dialogo 7.2: Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today by dIALOGO jOURNAL

Journal of the Dialogue between Science and Theology

DIA LOGO Volume 7 - Issue 2 - June 2021

Edited by Cosmin-Tudor Ciocan

Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society Today

www.dialogo-conf.com

DIALOGO International Journal with biannual volumes on regard to the Dialogue between Science and Theology

‘Dialogo’ Journal is the intellectual property of RCDST (Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology), Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania

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DIALOGO 2021 volume 7 - issue 2: International Virtual Conference on

Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today (IVC2021SRIS)

Organized by the RCDST - Romania in collaboration with Institutions from Spain - Slovakia - Pakistan - Switzerland - Poland India - Egypt - Uganda - Jordan - Turkey Argentina - USA - Canada - Germany - Australia June 2021 www.dialogo-conf.com/dialogo-journal/

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this volume do not necessarily represent those of the Dialogo Organizers and are attributable to the authors of the papers alone.

Publication Series: Description: ISSN (CD-ROM): ISSN (ONLINE): ISSN (PRINT): ISSN-L:

DIALOGO (Multidisciplinary Journal for the Dialogue between Science and Theology) 2392 – 9928 Editors: Tudor-Cosmin Ciocan, Ph.D. (Romania) - In-Chief 2393 – 1744 Ing. Stefan Badura, Ph.D. (Slovak Republic) 2457 – 9297 2392 – 9928

Series Copyright RCDST (Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology) of Owner: the “Ovidius” University of Constanta. Romania Volume7, Issue2 Title:

International Virtual Conference on Spirituality, Religion, or Irreligion, and Society today

IVC2021SRIS DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2

abreviation:

Published by: Dialogo Publishing House SRL, Sos. Mangaliei 185 - Constanta, Romania

DOI issuer: Lucian Blaga Central University Library of Cluj. Str. Clinicilor, nr.2, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

301 Printed on: 100 copies Publishing date: 2021, June 30 Pages:

Note on the issue: This is the volume of our general topic, with articles gathered until June 2021 on 4 sections of research and the

new section for Book Reviews. *All published papers underwent double peer review. *All published papers are in English language only. Each paper was assigned to 3 reviewers and went through two-level approval process. * The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of RCDST. Authors only hold responsability over their papers and content.

Open Access Online archive is available at: http://www.dialogo-conf.com/archive (articles will be available online one month after the publication releases). In case of any questions, notes or complaints, please contact us at: info(at)dialogo-conf.com.

Warning: Copyright © 2014, RCDST (Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology), Romania. All rights reserved. Reproduction or publication of this material, even partial, is allowed without any permission, but you need to indicate if changes were made, do not use for commercial purpose, and use the appropriate citation. Dialogo by RCDST is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License This is in an Open Access journal by which all articles are available on the internet to all users upon publication.

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Supporting Organizations and Partners

Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology www.rcdst.ro

cicainternational.org (Spain)

Ovidius University of Constanta (UOC/Romania) www.univ-ovidius.ro

University of the Punjab (Lahore) www.pu.edu.pk

Maritime University of Constanta (UMC/Romania) www.cmu-edu.eu

“Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy (ANMB/Romania) www.anmb.ro

The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (UAIC/Romania) www.uaic.ro

“Vasile Goldis” Western University of Arad (UVVG/Romania) www.uvvg.ro/

Global Ethics (Geneva/Switzerland) www.globethics.net

The Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology (ISCAST/Australia) www.iscast.org

Horizon Research Publishing, HRPUB - USA http://www.hrpub.org/

Research and Science Today www.lsucb.ro/rst

Faculty of Educational Sciences (WNP) Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland www.pedagogika.umk.pl

Action-research in Contemporary Culture and Education – Practice & Theory (ACCEPT/Poland) www.accept.umk.pl

Centre for Research and social, psychological and pedagogical evaluation (CCEPPS/Romania) ccepps.univ-ovidius.ro

Open Access Theology Journal www.mdpi.com/ journal/religions

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7:2 (2021)

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Supporting Organizations and Partners

Faculty of Medicine (UOC), Romania www.medcon.ro

Faculty of Theology (UOC), Romania teologie.univ-ovidius.ro

Faculty of Orthodox Theology (UAIC), Romania www.teologie.uaic.ro

Faculty of Theology (UAB), Romania www.fto.ro

Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education (UAIC), Romania www.psih.uaic.ro

Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education (UOC), Romania pse.univ-ovidius.ro

Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (UAIC), Romania snsa.univ-ovidius.ro

Centre of Inter - Religious Research and Christian Psychopedagogy Alba Iulia - Saint Serge (CCIRPC)

Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering (UOC), Romania fcetp.univ-ovidius.ro

Faculty of Law (UOC), Romania drept.univ-ovidius.ro

Christian Theological Institute after the Timotheus Gospel, Romania http://timotheus.ro/

Institute for Peace Studies in Eastern Christianity [IPSEC] Cambridge, MA 022380246, U.S.A. https://orthodoxpeace.org/

Volume published by

RCDST Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology Ovidius University of Constanta Romania doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2

Dialogo Publishing House S.R.L. Editing and Publishing Society, Constanta Romania

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Lucian Blaga Central University Library of Cluj Publishing Institution of the “Lucian Blaga” University, Cluj-Napoca-400006, Str. Clinicilor, no 2 Romania

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International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Advisory Board Christoph STUECKELBERGER Globethics.net Executive Director and Founder; Prof. PhD. (Switzerland) Maria Isabel Maldonado GARCIA Directorate External Linkages/Institute of Language University of the Punjab; Head of Spanish Dpt. / Assistant Professor (Pakistan) Filip NALASKOWSKI

Faculty of Educational Sciences - Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun; Dr. (Poland) Lucian TURCESCU Department of Theological Studies - Concordia University; Professor and Chair (Canada)

IPS Teodosie PETRESCU Archbichop of Tomis disctrict; Faculty of Orthodox Theology; “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Mohammad Ayaz AHMAD University of Tabuk; Assistant Professor PhD (Saudi Arabia) Edward Ioan MUNTEAN Faculty of Food Sciences and Technology - University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj–Napoca; Assoc. Professor PhD. (Romania) Altaf QADIR University of Peshawar (Pakistan)

Francesco FIORENTINO Dipartimento di Filosofia, Letteratura e Scienze Sociali; Universita degli Studi di Bari «Aldo Moro»; Researcher in Storia della Filosofia (Italy)

Eugenia Simona ANTOFI “Dunarea de Jos” University (Romania)

Dagna DEJNA NCU Faculty of Educational Sciences (Poland)

D. Liqaa RAFFEE Jordan University of Science and Technology (Jordan)

Panagiotis STEFANIDES Emeritus Honoured Member of the Technical Chamber of Greece HELLENIC AEROSPACE IND. S.A. - Lead engineer; MSc Eur Ing (Greece)

George ENACHE Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology „Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati; Associate professor PhD. (Romania)

Cristiana OPREA European Physical Society; member Joint Institute for Nuclear Research - Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics; Scientific Project Leader (Russia)

Ahed Jumah Mahmoud AL-KHATIB Faculty of Medicine - Department of Neuroscience University of Science and Technology; Researcher PhD (Jordan)

Coli NDZABANDZABA Rhodes University (South Africa)

Gheorghe ISTODOR Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Nasili VAKA’UTA Trinity Methodist Theological College University of Auckland; Ranston Lecturer PhD. (New Zealand)

Akhtar Hussain SANDHU Department of History, University of the Punjab; Associate professor PhD. (Pakistan) Richard WOESLER European University press, PhD. (Germany) Riffat MUNAWAR University of the Punjab; Dr. PhD. (Pakistan)

Dilshad MAHABBAT University of Gujrat (Pakistan) Adrian NICULCEA Faculty of Orthodox Theology, “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Tarnue Marwolo BONGOLEE Hope for the Future; Executive Director (Liberia)

Hassan IMAM Aligarh University, PhD. (India) Ioan G. POP Emanuel University of Oradea; PhD. (Romania) Farzana BALOCH University of Sindh Associate professor PhD. (Pakistan)

Ahmed KYEYUNE Islamic University in Uganda

Petru BORDEI Faculty of Medicine - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania)

Ahmed USMAN University of the Punjab (Pakistan) Mihai Valentin VLADIMIRESCU Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Craiova; Professor PhD. (Romania)

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Ioan-Gheorghe ROTARU ‘Timotheus’ Brethren Theological Institute of Bucharest (Romania)

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Khalil AHMAD University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)

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International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Advisory Board Maciej LASKOWSKI Politechnika Lubelska; Prof. PhD. (Poland)

Mihai CIUREA University of Craiova, PhD. (Romania)

Muhammad HAFEEZ University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)

Mohammad Ayaz Ahmad University of Tabuk, Assistant Professor PhD. (Saudi Arabia)

Muhammad Shahid HABIB International Islamic University; Lecturer Ph.D. (Pakistan)

Mirosaw ZIENTARSKI Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru, PhD. (Poland)

Muhammad Zakria ZAKAR University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)

Manisha MATHUR G.N.Khalsa College; University of Mumbai; Assistant Professor (India)

R S Ajin GeoVin Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; PhD. (India)

Pratibha GRAMANN Saybrook University of San Francisco, California (United States of America)

Mustfeez Ahmad ALVI Lahore Leads University; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan)

Adrian GOREA Concordia University, Montreal (Canada)

Radu NICULESCU Ovidius University of Constanta; Assist.prof. PhD. (Romania)

Richard Alan MILLER

Navy Intel (Seal Corp. and then MRU); Dr. in Alternative Agriculture, Physics, and Metaphysics (United States of America)

Fermin De La FUENTE-CALVO De La Fuente Consulting (Corporative Intelligence) B.Sc. Physics and Professor PhD. (United States of America)

Maria CIOCAN “Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy; teacher PhD. (Romania)

Kelli COLEMAN MOORE University of California at Santa Barbara (United States of America)

Sorin Gabriel ANTON Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi; PhD. (Romania)

Osman Murat DENIZ Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi; Associate Professor PhD. (Turkey)

Sultan MUBARIZ University of Gujrat; PhD. (Pakistan)

Daniel MUNTEANU The International Journal of Orthodox Theology (Canada) Dragos HUTULEAC Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava; Assistant Lecturer, PhD candidate (Romania) Shiva KHALILI Faculty of psychology and education - Tehran University; Associate Professor PhD. (Iran) Mihai HIMCINSKI Faculty of Orthodox Theology - „1 December 1918” University of Alba Iulia; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Richard Willem GIJSBERS The Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology - ISCAST (Australia) Flavius Cristian MARCAU Constantin Brancusi” University of Targu Jiu; Phd. Candidate (Romania)

Gheorghe PETRARU Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Iasi; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Rania Ahmed Abd El-Wahab Mohamed Plant Protection Research Institute; PhD. (Egypt) Rubeena ZAKAR University of the Punjab; Prof. PhD. (Pakistan) Mihai GIRTU The Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology (RCDST); President Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Prof. PhD. (Romania) Cosmin Tudor CIOCAN The Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology (RCDST); Executive Director Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Lecturer PhD. (Romania)

Stanley KRIPPNER Association for Humanistic Psychology, the Parapsychological Association; President; Prof. PhD. (United States of America) Fouzia SALEEM University of the Punjab, Dr. PhD. (Pakistan)

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International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Advisory Board Mihaela RUS “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Professor PhD. (Romania) Sónia MORGADO Instituto Superior de Ciências Policiais e Segurança Interna, (ISCPSI); Aux. Prof., PhD (Portugal)

Muhammad Shahzad ASLAM Universiti Malaysia Perlis; Assistant Professor PhD (Pakistan) Musferah MEHFOOZ Islamic Studies, Humanities Department; Assistant Professor PhD (Pakistan)

Jean FIRICA

University of Craiova; Assoc. Professor PhD. (Romania) Ahmed ASHFAQ Assistant Professor PhD (Saudi Arabia) Shoaib Ahmad SIDDIQI Faculty of Biological Sciences, Lahore Garrison University; Assistant Professor PhD (Pakistan) Rehman ATAUR Lahore Garrison University; Senior Lecturer PhD. (Pakistan)

Stefan Gregore CIORNEI University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine; Assistant Professor PhD (Romania) Ahmed Kadhim HUSSEIN Babylon University, College of Engineering; Assist.Prof.Dr.Eng. (Iraq) Muhammad SARFRAZ Kuwait University, Department of Information Science, College of Computing; Professor and V. Dean of Research & Graduate Studies (Kuwait)

Kuang-ming Wu Yale University Divinity School; Senior Lecturer PhD. (Pakistan)

Abbasali BARATI Al-mustafa International university in Qom; Professor PhD (Iran)

Nursabah SARIKAVAKLI “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Professor PhD. (Turkey)

Amando P. SINGUN Higher College of Technology, Muscat; Lecturer PhD (Oman)

Laurentiu-Dan MILICI “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava; Professor PhD. (Romania)

Marian Gh. SIMION Harvard University - Harvard Divinity School; PhD (United States)

Emad Al-Janabi “Al-Mussaib” Technical College; Asist. Prof. Dr. (Iraq)

Besmira LAHI University of New York in Tirana; Lecturer PhD (Albania)

Sugiarto TEGUH Budi luhur and AAJ Jayabaya; Lecturer PhD. (Indonesia)

Zeyad Samir Zaki al-Dabbagh Mosul University / College of Political Science; Assist. Prof. PhD (Iraq)

Lili BUZATU “Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy; teacher (Romania) Ionut CHIRCALAN Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Assist Prof. PhD. (Romania)

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Mahesh Man SHRESTHA International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management (INPIM); Lecturer PhD. (Nepal)

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Hamnah Naveed MALIK Lahore Grammar School; PhD (Pakistan) Nicolae POPESCU Faculty of Orthodox Theology - “Ovidius” University of Constanta; Assist Prof. PhD. (Romania)do P. SINGUN Higher College of Technology, Muscat; Lecturer PhD (Oman)

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Organizing Committee

Cosmin Tudor CIOCAN - SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME OFFICER

RCDST Executive Director and Founder; Lect. ThD. Faculty of orthodox theology, Ovidius University of Constanta (Romania)

RESPONSIBLES FOR SESSION 1. SPIRITUAL WELLNESS Tina LINDHARD - President CCAEspaña; CICA: Chair of Consciousness Research, PhD (Spain)

RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 2. RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL, or IRRELIGIOUS? Stephen David EDWARDS - University of Zululand; Emeritus. Prof . PhD. DEd (South Africa)

RESPONSIBLES FOR SESSION 3. RELIGION in the AGE of CORONAVIRUS Christoph STÜCKELBERGER - University of Basel ; Founder and Executive Director of Globethics.net, Geneva ; Professor PhD. (Switzerland)

RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 4. SOCIETY UNDER CHANGES Osman Murat DENIZ - Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi - lahiyat Fakültesi; Assoc. Prof . PhD. (Turkey)

RESPONSIBLE FOR SESSION 5. BOOK REVIEWS Maria Isabel MALDONADO GARCIA - University of the Punjab; Assist. Prof., PhD (Pakistan)

Stefan BADURA - RESPONSIBLE FOR I.T.

Publishing Society of Zilina; Ing. PhD. (Slovakia)

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Volume Presentation

EDITORIAL “Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today”

We have entitled this conference `Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today` addressing a very actual issue in our society in regard to people’s choice to religiousness, spirituality, or neither. The current global health crisis also reminds us that what affects the human family has to be addressed by all of us. The solution to this, like so many other problems, especially concerning the environment, depends on international co-operation. Ultimately, if humanity is to thrive, we must remember that we are one, thus leaving all the prejudices aside and stay together against this menace would be considered ‘natural’ and natural response of all humanity, still… The entire 2020 let us with the feeling that now, maybe more than ever, our cultures, beliefs, and prejudices although defining who we are, also are elements that individualize us, separate us in a heterogeneous way, unmixed even in these moments of hardship for humanity. Spirituality is something that’s talked about a lot but is often misunderstood. Many people think that spirituality and religion are the same things, and so they bring their beliefs and prejudices about religion to discussions about spirituality. Though all religions emphasize spiritualism as being part of faith, there are still many considering that you can be ‘spiritual’ without being religious or a member of organized religion. Within the four panels of this event, we strive to understand either this separation is entirely true or not, to learn the correctness of comparing those two, if there is another form of reference to the cognitive Self without resorting to spiritual or religious terms, and, at the same time, what is the relationship and the relationship between this spiritual-religious ream and the current human society. Some people may see the term “spiritual but not religious” as indecisive and devoid of substance. Others embrace it as an accurate way to describe themselves. What is beyond dispute, however, is that a growing share of people seeks lesser to the aids provided by religions in building their daily lives, while the majority still entrust their life choices, families, duties, or even health to the grasp of the religious leaders and their dogma, regardless of the conflict raised with reason, social rules, or personal desires. Starting from the keyword `individual choice`, We have invited researchers, teachers, and students to join on this global forum, where research, knowledge, and ideas can be efficiently presented and shared. The conference provides a smart virtual platform to share your research ideas with personal attendance but without traveling or expensive accommodation. Any paper that brings forward a new approach, a research report, or a case study, a decent-provocative supposition, or a challenging hypothesis is more than welcome into DIALOGO Conference. We have the pleasure to discuss findings and ideas with fellow scholars worldwide and the opportunity to publish it into an international, indexed publication! I. Topics and Significance: Considering the most common issues implied by this choice of being either religious, spiritual, neither of both, we have summarized them in four sections to bring this theme to public discussion.

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Volume Presentation

1. Spiritual Wellness (topics under consideration: Nurturing your soul is as, if not more, important for your well-being as nourishing your body. Can you be happy if your body is in perfect shape but your soul is not? Most of us are familiar with the basic necessities of physical health through nutrition, exercise, and rest. But do we know how to achieve spiritual health — how to nourish and condition the soul? Do we understand the importance of having a healthy soul and its impact on our well-being? We invite you to join us and discover how a dynamic soul is critical in life. In this section, we also consider other pitfalls on the inner journey of Self Discovery. One is the topic mentioned earlier concerning the cult of the body, as opposed to the need to keep our temple in the best health so we can advance on our inner journey. As a by-product, how can looking after your body also affect the environment? Another pitfall involves the ego and who is the doer? Another pitfall involves the ego and who is the doer? And here we also consider the differences between Spirituality and Spiritualism - are they related and if so how? Also, for this panel, we consider the relationship between the individual soul and the OverSoul or Higher Self; or even do we have an individual soul or if there exists a Higher Self – for example, Buddhism (Theorvadic School does not accept the existence of the Self), but other Buddhist schools have introduced these concepts. Another aspect of this section includes human consciousness – is it a product of the brain (as many scientists claim), or is it the property of the soul? What is the quality of the consciousness of the Oversoul (there might be some agreement here between different traditions)? What are the signs that the spiritual practitioner is progressing on his or her journey? How should the practitioner react when these signs start occurring? The relationship between the embodied soul and the OverSoul brings us into the different interpretations by the 3 main schools in Indian philosophy: Advaita, Dvaita and VishishtAbvaita. They have agreed to respect differences as all three are accepted, and each person ultimately chooses for him or herself depending on which one they resonate with. This then brings us to the common much used saying that ‘they are all the same’ – or ‘we are all one’ – or not? What do people mean by these phrases? What is the difference between these phrases and the phrase ‘There is only ONE?’ These aspects call for your reflections, and we invite you to share your insights on one or some of them here.).

“Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.” – Cicero, the Roman philosopher. 2.Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious? (description: For a long time, they have developed together as the human endeavor in the spiritual realm, they both grew in separate ways, with different targets and purposes, as they are addressing their insights to a different type of people/human needs. Which one is better to follow, easier, or safer? Can we question which one is more suitable for the actual human? Should we oppose them for the same goal or, on the contrary, envision them diverse, valid paths? Or, better more, are they both entitled to serve people separately, in diverse ways, while they address a single reality? Moreover, can each achieve its goals upon its followers, therefore became inopportune their comparison? If so, a third, distinctive path lies ahead, irreligiosity - is it a real choice? Can humans deny their ‘spiritual’ existence, and thus neglect entirely the inner SELF and deny their own mindfulness/ spiritual wellness? Are the non-religious or spiritual communities and their members less violent than those of religious identities or not? Religion(s) was mostly about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ that is why it mostly settles exclusivism; Spirituality wishes to settle inclusivism, embracing all with different paths - are they ‘wrong’ or ‘right’? Are they willing to change for the better, helpful understanding? or yet, can they do that? A secondary theme in this panel concerns science: Using the term ‘Science’ with the connotation of ‘religiousness’ – has it become a new ‘religion’ to follow blindly? Can science go beyond its own material basis? Can and/or should science look at what animates matter rather than just the physical and chemical properties of matter?).

“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis 3. Religion in the Age of Coronavirus (description: Governments have used considerable power to restrict the freedom

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Volume Presentation

of their citizens as they seek to implement successful public health policy in response to the COVID—19 pandemic. One particular area of consequence is the way in which the temporary closures of places of worship and restrictions on social gatherings have imposed secular authority on public, communal religious life. Religious leadership during the pandemic is challenged to take measures as opposed to tradition, practice, and sometimes core belief. How this affects leadership, followers, and religious interactions inside the religious communities and outside them, in relation to civil society and others? Are religious gatherings as contagious crowds like any other, or, on the contrary, they stand for a balm in distress? Was obedience to the authorities proof of weakness or wisdom? How religious leadership and communities responded to this global menace vs how they should’ve? Is religious faith gaining or losing its rate in this contextual pandemic due to its not-entirely-liked response? Should faith be reasonable or on the contrary? – the commitment between Society and Religion makes a unique and important contribution to contemporary debates over liberalism vs conservatism, and their response to the proliferation of religions in contemporary distressful life).

“Religion is the everlasting dialogue between humanity and God. Art is its soliloquy.” - Franz Werfel 4. Society under changes (description: It is the aim of the interdisciplinary Dialogo Spring event to investigate the dynamic interplay between macro-level developments and bottom-up approaches in the fields of religion and spirituality and the way in which this may induce innovative synergies and/or provoke new and old forms of confrontation inside our Society. Today’s social fabric is a realm of important changes and movements. 2020 was a year of many challenges and changes in so many sectors of our lives. The social life of individuals, of families, unemployment, most activities migrated unto the virtual environment, lower fuel consumption, and many other major changes which were caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but especially by the protection measures taken against it. As many of these precautions have targeted unprecedented restrictions on the duration, population segment, and limitation of several freedoms - all of these have given rise to social unrest in many countries and with high intensity of violence. To these sustained campaigns were added to discredit the reality of the disease, the intentions of the anti-Covid vaccine variants, the legality of the measures imposed, especially in the area of deprivation of liberty. Against this background, so many relatively new or secondary activities have been developed so far, such as the production of surgical masks, Plexiglas panels, the development of conference platforms and online courses, and so on. People’s lives were gravely struck by the Industries Most or Least Impacted by COVID-19. Without any doubt, humans will move forward beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, but the costs are not to be neglected, but this pandemic, however, has reminded us how interdependent we are: what happens to one person can soon affect many others, even on the far side of our planet. Other topics of your choice: On the one hand, how Spiritual/Religious communities react to the Social impositions vs how secular societies also react to S/R choices during pandemic or in general. There are also many ways in which Society engages S/R topics and issues, e.g. literature and visual arts always were the predilect features to address S/R issues by society. There is no ART that did not engage the topic of being Spiritual or Religious at any historical age. Also, political acts and legislation, anthropological and sociological theories, rethinking religious education and plurality: Issues in diversity and pedagogy, etc. - all concerning S/R issues interpreted in relation to contemporary civilization and understanding. In return, S/R responds with solutions of adaptation of all kids that can be a theme to your presentation and public awareness. A real challenge is now to redefine humanity when we see the rise of the Artificial Intelligence (AI). All of AI’s theories, concepts, and techniques that need clarification of whether we can consider or not equal being those who can reason and produce coherent sentences without having a God-created-Soul. What is the link between the Intelligence and the conscious Self: is it the brain?, is it the Soul? How can Neurosciences define what Soul is? Is it even possible for them to accept such term, or they cannot encompass it in the AI theories? If the brain is not the cradle for the Soul,

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Volume Presentation

then can we say that AI can also bear a Soul? Can we have a Soul without intelligence or conscious Self? Also, at the 2021 Spring event we will discuss the ways in which mobility influences the global and local religious landscape. We can focus on: (1) the ways in which religious materials and rituals travel around the globe and facilitates religious exchanges and changes in our global world: Do refugees travel with their icons and does that involve a change in the rituals? Can relics travel with people and what does that mean for the ritual space surrounding it? Is there space for practices and material exchange within the digital world; and how does this come about? (2) the individual exchange of religious beliefs through mobility: How do the different modes of individual mobility (migration, asylum seeking, tourism, schooling…) change the religious belief-system of the ‘moving person’ but also of the people in the host country? How do people theologize their experience of migration, asylum-seeking? Does this mobility foster new forms of religion, ‘multiple religious belongings’ or does it create feelings of alienation, deculturalization, discrimination? (3) the religious change that mobility and globalization has fostered and the meaning this has on the larger geopolitical context and social set-up of countries: How do postcolonial regions claim a position in the world through their traditions, churches, practices? What does religious conversion mean for the established world religions (internally, but also in the global geopolitical context)? How does this changing religious landscape influences the social set-up of a country (more solidarity, segregation)?? )

“Different doesn’t mean wrong; it just means different.”

II. Dialogo Endeavor Presentation 1. General presentation As the chief editor and founder of Dialogo enterprise, I have started this endeavor with a lot of anxiety, for there were many failures regarding the same purpose, as well as there are some other already internationally recognized. Still, I have started this quest along with a few fellow researchers in my University [i.e., Ovidius University of Constanta, RO] from diverse fields of science. I was encouraged to propose our version of dialogue in this form, a virtual forum of debates and discussions, capable of bringing people from around the globe more comfortable and environmentalfriendly; and I did. Now, after only five years and ten published volumes, I am grateful I had these colleagues beside me and also God, who blessed our proposal since it started with 21 professors. Now it reaches more than a hundred involved academics in a genuine and targeted dialogue. I could not be amazed by the considerable amount of questions these events usually raise, sometimes from the papers as the starting point of discussions, or just as an excuse for considering addressing such items to people who often taught such issues. Overall, I cannot be more proud that we achieve this aim of bringing people of such diversity of research fields, sciences, religious backgrounds, or spirituality in an academic arena for discussions and clarifications. Considering the phrase of Norman Vincent Peale, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”, we, at Dialogo, are but proud to seeing this outcome on our endeavor. 2. Aim and Scope The Dialogo Journal is a multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal published twice a year. It aims to study the theory and practice of dialogue between all types of sciences and any religious background, understood provisionally as meaningful interaction and exchange between people (often of different social, cultural, political, religious, or professional groups) who come together through various kinds of conversations or activities with a view to increased understanding on both these two ways of human reasoning, scientifical and religious/spiritual. The Journal is published by the Research Center on the Dialogue between Science and Theology of „Ovidius” University of Constanta, Romania, in partnership with several academic institutions and research centers from Romania and abroad. The conference is addressed to scholars from all over the world interested in communicating on topics of interest at the crossroads of science and religion. The participation of young scientists, graduates, and students is greatly encouraged, one of the

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Volume Presentation

goals of the workshop being to offer the new generation an opportunity to present original new results and a chance to learn from the experience of distinguished researchers. The goal of the Virtual Conference on the Dialogue between Science and Theology is twofold. First, it aims to collect high-quality, authoritative, well-documented information on topics placed at the intersection of science and religion. Secondly, it makes an effort to provide a way for leading scholars to share and exchange their views, as well as to comment on the opinions of their peers regarding particular aspects of science and religion. This might include ways to challenge the boundaries within and between religion and science, and or between and within the academy, as well as the boundaries of the sacred and secular, of reason and faith. Ultimately, we want to ask how queer religion, science, and philosophy, can and/or should be. It is our pleasure to introduce you to this anniversary volume. This book contains all the accepted papers from the 13th conference organized by the Dialogo community of scholars, which is described below in more detail. We hope that all these published papers contribute to academic society and provide interesting information for researchers worldwide. Sincere thanks for: •

Scientific Committee for their volunteer work during reviewing.

•

Conference partners for promotional work and their contribution.

•

Editorial Board for enormous workload and patience.

Be welcomed to enjoy this accomplishment! See you again for the DIALOGO 2021 Fall event!

your host, lect. Fr. Ciocan Tudor Cosmin, PhD Executive Director of The Research Center on the Dialogue between Science & Theology (RCDST) „Ovidius” University Constanța / Romania Scientific Programme Officer of DIALOGO international conferences E-mail: office(at)dialogo-conf.com

Whether you are looking for a place to: SHARE: Present your research, share your experience or raise awareness of your work and get valuable feedback from the international community of scholars, professionals, and policy-makers, LEARN: From leading experts in the fields of spirituality, religion, mental health and holistic wellbeing or anthropology, society, psycho-sociology, civilization, and other related, NETWORK: Meet colleagues and likeminded people from around the world, make new friends, and find collaborators for your projects,

DIALOGO International Virtual Conference is the right place for you!

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Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Rosevelt

In Memoriam Dr. Wade Clark Roof (1949-2019)

Dr. Wade Clark Roof was Emeritus Professor of Religion and Society in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directed the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life. Before moving in 1989 to the University of California at Santa Barbara Roof taught at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst for 19 years sociology courses on religion, race and American society. A prominent public scholar, he was the author/ editor of over a dozen books on the evolving landscape of religion in the US including Religious Pluralism and Civil Society, Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion, World Order and Religion, and A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation (1993). He was slated to receive the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion at this year’s meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Wade Clark Roof peacefully passed away on August 24, 2019 at the age of 80. He leaves behind a daughter, Katherine and her husband, Michael Brandts of Massachusetts, Frank (Zeke) Guilford of Miami (son in law), and six beloved grandchildren, Lindsay, Lauren, Madeline, Rachel, Emma and Matthew. He also leaves behind his dear friend, Farina Talbert of Santa Barbara. And of course, his dogs, Ollie and Reilly of which he loved to spoil and dote on. “I think that his biggest continuing impact is going to be through the lives of the students that he trained; dozens and dozens of them now are professors themselves at universities across the United States and even a few across the globe,” historian Diana Butler Bass said. “He helped me reconsider my conservative position upon religious pluralism during our walks across the United States at the Summer Institute at UCSB in 2014 and made me discover the depth of interconnectivity with all sorts of religious and spiritual beliefs, for which I am forever grateful,” Cosmin Tudor Ciocan, Dialogo CEO.

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Database List Description Conference Sponsors and Parteners International Scientific Committee, Reviewers and Contributers Organizing Committee Preface by Ciocan Tudor Cosmin Table of Content

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HeartMath as Scientific Meditation Method in Dialogue withTheological Phenomena

Spiritual and Scientific Inquiry as ways the East and the West have sought to understand the nature of Reality

67 The Role of the Ancestors in Healing: A Zululand Follow up Study

Jabulani Dennis Thwala; Stephen David Edwards

75 The significance of Prayer and its healing power. Or, playing Go with God

Tudor-Cosmin Ciocan

Vasile Miron

session 2 - Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

Stephen David Edwards

Srinivas Arka

The Relation between the Consciousness and the Phenomenal World. A metaphysical understanding in the view of Advaitic tenet Raghuraman Vasantharaman

The poor and their image in the spiritual autobiographies of the Christian space of the 19th and 20th centuries Iuliu-Marius Morariu

The Christian-Orthodox teaching about fasting in St. John Chrysostom’s work

The Contribution of Integral Transpersonal Psychology

95 Approach to Religion and Spirituality Pier Luigi Lattuada

113 Paleolithic Women’s Spirituality and its Relevance to us Today

Tina Lindhard

132 A Study of the Philosophy of Science and Spirituality Richard A. Honeycutt

Henri-Dominique Lacordaire in the ultramontaine

147 philosophy

Anastasiia Cherygova

A Debate Concerning the Biblical Mode of Baptism

Ethnographic Research of the use of Music in Healing

157

District Municipality, Limpopo Province in South Africa

Saint Clement’s debate on Time and Eternity as a 166 manifest for the Postmodern Spirituality

60 as a Cultural Phenomenon in Greater Sekhukhune Morakeng Edward Kenneth Lebaka

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Ilie Soritau

Ionut Vlădescu

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session 4 - Society under changes

Revisiting a Victorian Poet: Gerard Manley Hopkins.

178 Ecocritical and Religious Echoes Nicoleta Stanca

Transfer of consciousness. Its possibility and

189 fantasy from the spiritual, religious, and scientific perspectives

Tudor-Cosmin Ciocan; Any Docu Axelerad; Maria Ciocan; Alina Zorina Stroe; Silviu Docu Axelerad; Daniel Docu Axelerad

201 Associated Factors of Suicidal Behavior and Religiousness. A cross-sectional study Ionut Eduard Bolboasa

263 Street children during COVID-19 pandemic in India Beata Pietkiewicz-Pareek

The consequences of the pandemic. Possible 271 strategies for the revitalization of urban space. Case study in Posillipo, Naples: the Pilot Settlement in Torre Ranieri Ilenia Gioia

280

216 “Love Thy Neighbor” - A Missiological Mandate Ilie Soritau

Ionut Vlădescu

session 5 - Book Reviews

223 Spiritual Therapies and Autolytic Behavior Ionut Eduard Bolboasa

Nonlocal Consciousness and the Anthropology of

237 Religion

Stephan A Schwartz

session 3 - Religion in the Age of Coronavirus

Time and Eternity in Origen’s Thinking as Work Paradigm of Thought for Contemporary Society

[Book review] Edmund Kee-Fook Chia: World

293 Christianity encounters world religions: a summa of interfaith dialogue

Tudor-Cosmin Ciocan

296 [Book review] Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph Nicoleta Stanca

247 The Influencer Role of Charismatic Renewal In The Spirituality of Post Covid Society Beniamin Gavril Micle

300 GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

HeartMath as Scientific Meditation Method in Dialogue with Theological Phenomena Stephen David EDWARDS, PhD DEd

Professor Emeritus at the Psychology Department; University of Zululand Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886 Richards Bay, South Africa

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 22 February 2021 Received in revised form 12 March Accepted 20 April 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.1

The HeartMath Institute originated in 1991 through Doc Childre’s vision of promoting heart intelligence and health. The HeartMath system is an interdisciplinary undertaking, which bridges natural, human, social, spiritual, and ecological sciences, with the goal of promoting personal, social, and global coherence. The general goal of this paper is to introduce HeartMath as a coherent scientific approach to dialogue theological information, as well as a specific meditation method to explore theological phenomena. The particular aim is to contribute a theoretical and practically orientated pilot study with heuristic phenomenological reflection on personal experience of HeartMath theory, practice, meditation, related action, and reports in the form of scientific articles. This study is directly relevant to the DIALOGO conference theme of dialogue between science and theology. Methodology concerns the theoretical and practical value of HeartMath meditation methods as described with examples from HeartMath Global Coherence (GC) and Inner Balance (IB) apps. There are five GC reflective meditations on the theme of science and theology, complemented by five IB purely contemplative meditations. The reflective and discursive focus of the paper is on the monitoring of meditation sessions related to science and theology. The specific focus is on HeartMath techniques, electronic devices, and the planetary health potential of the Global Coherence Initiative.

Keywords: HeartMath; Scientific meditation; Global Coherence Initiative; Dialogue; Theological phenomena;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Stephen David Edwards. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Edwards, Stephen David . ”HeartMath as Scientific Meditation Method in Dialogue with Theological Phenomena.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 23-34. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.1

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I. Introduction

The present author’s regular meditation practice is Christian contemplation, inspired by African wisdom traditions, founded on reverently recalling and revering historical individuals, families and groups, who contribute significantly to human health and well-being. In Zulu traditions, this is the specialized role of shaman/diviner/priest/ healers, isangoma, umthandazi, and inyanga, who practice various ancestral breath/ spirit/heart healing methods, typically in group context accompanied by invocation, drumming, and dance. For example, SHISO, a respectful name for a human being, became an acronym for a healing method, invoking Spirit (umoya), Heart (inhlizyo), Image (umcabango), Soul (umphefumulo), and Oneness (ubunye). It was research in this tradition that lead to the collaboration with Dr. Rollin McCraty, HeartMath Research Director, and the African Global Coherence Initiative Magnetometer at Bonamanzi, near Hluhluwe in Zululand [4, 4]. This background history formed the motivation for the present study. Final motivation came in the form of keynote speaker invitation from the DIALOGO journal and conferences organizes, Dr. Tina Lindhard and Dr. Ciocan Tudor Cosmin. This specific contribution is intended as a sequel to a previous study, which compared global coherence, healing meditations using HeartMath electronic applications (apps) before and during the South African lockdown. Contrary to expectations, findings indicated significant and meaningful changes in meditation behaviour and global coherence magnetometer readings. In their elucidation of natural scientific features of heart rate variability coherence, in relation with experiential descriptions from meditation methods informed by Christian and other wisdom traditions, findings provided substantial evidence for the effectiveness of the HeartMath system when

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dealing with information that distinguishes and bridges traditional scientific and theological domains [2, 157]. This seemed an entirely appropriate DIALOGO theme. The aim is a pilot study to introduce HeartMath as the coherent scientific approach to dialogue theological information. Specific emphasis is on HeartMath meditation methods, emerging phenomena, and implications. A. Definition of Terms

The theme of this conference, on the dialogue between science and theology, reflects traditional disparate perceptions of the domains and methods of these disciplines. Over time, boundaries between domains have dissolved and rigid disciplinary categories have collapsed. Today science is not only concerned with natural scientific investigations into the physical world, and theology is not limited to qualitative phenomenological inquiry or revelatory explications of the experience and/or meaning of God. Contemporary views are more in accord with a perennial philosophy or spectrum of being, energy, and consciousness, intimately interconnecting natural, psychological, social, ecological, and theological sciences. In this context, theological sciences extend beyond the study (logy) of God (Theos) and religious belief to include atheism, spirituality and such categories as spiritual but not religious (SBNR). Contemporary connotations of the term “science” subsume domains, products, and processes that include quantitative, qualitative, mixed, and integrative methods, applicable to any field of inquiry, event, practice, or phenomena. Typical steps in the scientific research process include observation, questions, hypotheses testing, data collection and analysis, concluding and reporting. A deeper, open-minded, non-judgmental approach consists of

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B. Background to the HeartMath system

The HeartMath Institute was pioneered in 1991 in California by Doc Childre, a stress researcher, to promote heart-focused intelligence and health. The HeartMath interdisciplinary team goal of promoting personal, social and global coherence leads to excellent studies on coherence and interconnectedness [2, 125]. Early psychophysiological research consistently highlighted the hormonal, biophysical, neurochemical, electromagnetic

and intuitive functions of the heart [2, 41]. Subsequent studies coherently pointed to energetic heart communication of personal, social and global health information [2, 45]. Other studies have developed practical tools for stress reduction as well as health and performance promotion [2, 181]. As a scientific form of meditation, HeartMath electronic equipment can be used for providing quantitative and qualitative monitoring of meditation sessions for coherent heart rate variability (HRV) training, and biofeedback, if so desired. Quantitative monitoring is provided in the form of mean coherence and achievement scores for any particular meditation session. Qualitative monitoring is facilitated by an electronic diary for the description of meditation experiences. II. METHOD A. HeartMath’s coherence approach

Heart Math’s coherence approach includes all usual meanings of the term coherence and more, as implied in the view that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This includes its common usage as implied in such terms as integrity, connectedness, order, stability, consistency, harmony, synchrony and logical relatedness of an argument or thesis. In language, coherence means intelligibility. In physics, it implies phase relationships. In math and statistics, it includes correlation. In dynamic systems theory, it implies alignment, resonance, and optimal energy utilization [2, 67]. Although accusations of pseudoscience have been leveled at the HeartMath System by some traditional, fundamentally orientated natural scientists, many HeartMath studies are in fact based on generally accepted empirical foundations As implied in the name “HeartMath” this heart mathematics applies in various domains,

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three phases: injunction, apprehension and confirmation/rejection [4, 267]. Rephrased in simple terms, this means a “do, discover, decide” sequence. For example, one needs to practice meditation before observing and evaluating it. In other words, meditation is scientific if one applies a scientific method to meditation. This is the approach taken in the present study which integrates theoretical and practical meditation information. It should also be noted that although a scientific meditation method such as HeartMath may follow a rational, logical, “if-then” process, this does not necessarily imply rational or logical outcomes, or exclude the apprehension of post-rational, transcendent phenomena, typical of many theological apprehensions and revelations. In this study, meditation is used in the broad sense as reflected in its Latin roots (meditari), which means to contemplate or reflect. Many wisdom, spiritual and/or healing traditions employ prayer, meditation and/or contemplation for transforming consciousness [1, 87]. Meditation traditions have often been broadly classified into concentration and mindfulness meditation categories [1, 5]. The particular focus of this paper is on HeartMath as a scientific meditation method that combines relaxation, concentration, and mindfulness in contemplation.

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physical, social and global, all supported by independent HRV and biofeedback studies [2, 85]. B. Pilot study illustrating heuristic

phenomenological reflection on HeartMath meditation praxis

This pilot study is based on heuristic phenomenological reflection on eight years of personal experience of HeartMath practice, meditation, related action, and various scientific articles available from the HeartMath Research library. Depending upon theological, societal and individual expectations, experience and preference, HeartMath’s diverse tools, techniques and devices may be practiced by meditators from various faith, spiritual and religious persuasions. In Christian meditation for example, depending on the prayer type used, studies indicate varying levels of improvements in psychophysiological coherence and HRV. Findings have consistently indicated that physiological coherence levels are highest with contemplative heart prayer [8, 830]. C. Instruments

Detailed information on HeartMath tools, techniques and electronic devices are available on the HeartMath website at www.HeartMath.org. Two examples of techniques follow: HeartMath meditation practice is integral heart, breath, and energy-based. Scientific evidence exists as to its efficacy to transform stress, build resilience, and promote energy, health and performance, in preparing for challenges and adapting resiliently after challenges, through sustained regular HeartMath practice. HeartMath studies show that positive and renewing emotions are independently linked to psychophysiological coherence.

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However, most tools begin with heart-linked respiration to initiate natural respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), modulate heart rhythms, and facilitate focus on a positive and renewing emotion [2, 185]. Depletion to Renewal Grid. The technique consists of visualizing the autonomic nervous system (ANS) along the vertical axis of a graph and the hormonal system along the horizontal axis. The ANS sympathetic division is linked with high heart rates and the parasympathetic division with low heart rates. Depleting, negative emotions are associated with the stress hormone, cortisol, and renewing, positive emotions linked to the growth hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone or DHEA. This visualization technique helps reduce cortisol, which can otherwise last for eighteen hours in the body. On the other hand, DHEA increases significantly through the practice of HeartMath techniques such as Heart Lock-In, Optimal coherence is associated with improved health and performance and what sportspersons describe as zone experiences [2, 75]. Heart Lock-In. involves deep, integral, heart focus with awareness of heartbeat rhythm and slower relaxed respiration, typically at the 0.1 hertz or ten-second rhythm, which approximates the resonant frequency of the planet and optimizes entrainment of all physiological systems as well as social and global coherence interconnectedness. For deeper meditation experiences, slow relaxed, longer heartbeat centered, rhythmic respiration cycles of three or less per minute may be practiced to approximate delta-theta (or spiritsoul) craniosacral rhythm. The positive renewing emotion may be apprehended as joy (ecstatic-bliss - bliss with more parasympathetic involvement, ecstasy with more sympathetic involvement). Here one is surfing on the sympathetic borderline so this is why maintaining ongoing continual relaxation using the vagal brake

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D. Ethical Considerations

The

Zululand

University

research

committee, project number S894/97 provided institutional permission. As a registered clinical, psychologist and licensed HeartMath coach and mentor, the author had appropriate professional qualifications. III. pilot study findings

Global Coherence Findings. Pilot study findings refer to five meditations conducted for illustrative purposes on five consecutive days, 13 through 17 February 2021. The app was used for both monitoring and biofeedback purposes to ensure a mean coherence level of at least 6 for each session. Length of meditation session varied. The respective length of sessions was 28, 60, 52, 11 and 32 minutes respectively. As my wife Sandy and I live near the sea, each session’s typical initial, eyes-closed, context may be described in terms of sounds of “glistening silence” and “surging sea”. The biofeedback function with eyes open took place towards the end of each session. All sessions used reflective, heart-based breathing and radiation of renewing and healing feelings. Qualitative apprehensions from individual GC dated sessions were as follows. As distinct from the IB pure contemplation sessions, GC sessions were intensely reflective, or meta-reflective, in scanning various phenomena and subsequent writeup. Apologies are therefore extended to the reader for the density of the descriptions and the collapsed paragraphing. GC: 13-2-2021. This meditation, on meditation, included awareness of reflexivity in witnessing phenomena arising from meditation realms. Common meditation phenomena include gross, subtle, and causal realms, pulsation, heartbeat rhythm, breath, and energy sentience, awareness, consciousness, and conscience. Discernments include will and intention; exoteric and esoteric features; openness, emptiness, and peace; silence and stillness; immanence and transcendence;

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is so important. Once a regular rhythm is established positive renewing feelings of love, care or appreciation are cultivated and radiated to specific people and/or planet. This technique facilitates all forms of meditation, prayer and contemplation [2, 113]. Electronic Devices The instruments used in this study, the Global Coherence (GC) and Inner Balance (IB) applications (apps) can be downloaded freely from the internet. Purchased HeartMath Equipment consists of photoplethysmography sensors attached to one’s eye lobe and a suitable smartphone, e.g. iPhone. The GC app can be used in conjunction with the IB. The IB monitors HRV, heart rhythm coherence biofeedback and provides a graphic illustration of optimal, autonomic nervous system functioning. Both apps can be simply used for meditation monitoring without biofeedback. IB biofeedback includes an adjustable breath pacer, coherence means and achievement totals. An electronic diary is available for experiential descriptions of apprehensions, phenomena, insights and events arising during meditation sessions. The GC app monitors individual, group and global coherence and achievement information. GC records mean scores per session. Achievement data is continually updated and thus unreliable for calculations. However, the IB electronic diary can be used for quantitative and qualitative descriptions of individual, group and global coherence meditation sessions. In the present study, the GC app was used in the morning and the IB app in the afternoon. The main focus was on qualitative experiential GC descriptions related to the theme of science and theology, with IB used for afternoon contemplations sessions.

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joy, bliss, and ecstasy; linkages to particular meditation cultures; Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic. Mean Coherence levels of around 6, are typically lower in comparison to deep contemplation, where the mean coherence level reaches 7, 8 or 9. Today’s meditation session included dual consciousness realms as reflexivity was required in order to clearly remember meditation phenomena arising during the session. With higher coherence in contemplation, consciousness may simply feature silence, light, and love, for example, if the intention is to access one’s best Self, Christ consciousness, Divine Consciousness, Cosmic consciousness, Unity or Nondual consciousness, and related integrity morality, etc. On the other hand, radiant energy dispersion accompanies interceding or healing or teaching or, as directed towards needy, suffering people or planet in general. However, all these discernments are in fact superficial, as all are included when coherence increases with more direct one-on-one contact with the highest Self, Being Consciousness etc. Here I and Thou merge, as do information, phenomena, science, theology, in dazzling originality, uniqueness, authenticity, infinite Beauty and Perfection. GC: 14-2-2021. Life is a gift of God’s grace with radical freedom to realize the Self in and through the Divine Other and others. This was the main arising feeling in a session in which I decided to meditate for an hour and observe coherence. Experience teaches there is s general contemplation correlation, but as in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, great blessings come from low and high coherence levels. Is Spirit like the Wind? We used to teach students that God helps those who help themselves and others as in the commandment of loving God and others. Concerning entropy, there seems a correlation with performance. Although a mean coherence level of eight may be attained with achievement motivation and Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

sustained relaxation and concentration over ten minutes, this would be difficult to sustain over an hour. GC is used more than IB as it is specifically designed for group and global coherence and healing as indicated in various studies on the HeartMath Research library and Global Coherence Initiative websites. However, there are only 55632 GC members at present and some mathematical extrapolations indicated a critical mass of sixty thousand persons practicing for significant statistical effects to be observed. Faith and/or science? Certainly, in my case, there is the faith that even though individual global healing effects may be minuscule in a planetary perspective, my heart and limited scientific brain calculations regard this as the best current scientific-based practice. In this meditation and the previous one, most meditation time was spent in a savasana position lying on my back and then topping this up to mean level 6 using GC app as a biofeedback device in faith that higher mean coherence levels will effect greater global healing change. Meditation repeatedly reminds us that we are representatives of the world, universe or cosmos, that we are universal, differential and unique beings, and that we are part of everything and have everything in us, with vast moral responsibilities to make the world a better place. From a healing perspective, this includes interventions with persons with various faith-based practices that range from most fundamental to particularly individuated forms. GC: 15-2-2021. This was a reflective meditation session that scanned various theological, spiritual, psychological, and transpersonal traditions concerning particularly works of well-known authors such as Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Daniel Reid, Huston Smith, Frithjof Schuon, and Cynthia Bourgeault. The main focus was on heart-breath rhythm transcendence, stemming from my African community and family story, relationships with traditional

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seems default in my case. Using recently published articles as a point of departure, the present paper’s meditational discourse has focussed on HeartMath as heart prayer. This has been excellently scientifically investigated by Olga Louchakova, especially in the Christian and Sufi contexts. Coming home to our eternal, sacred, global heart of the world, HeartMath praxis may reflect symmetry or asymmetry of heart rhythm, as hidden face and voice of God, immanent and transcendent Spirit, the authenticity of a searcher, and depth of the level of realization or revelation. This is the ongoing journey of connection via heart, of Yoga Nidra, Benson’s relaxation response, Heart prayer, heart-focused out-breath, varying breath and heartbeat, and creativity of designing researcher. Ken Wilber’s integral philosophy and consciousness exploration work are excellent with regard to argument explication around meditation and science. One might say he almost reinvented the wheel with regard to such questions as: What is theology? What is science? Where do they begin, meet, and end? How are they related? The present meditation then settled on phenomenology as intention in the interrelatedness of everything and all phenomena. Open-ended heart prayer returned to focus on global healing. There was the apprehension of the humility of the soul in the heart as “infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering” and point of pure nothingness belonging only to God, a la Thomas Merton’s point vierge. HeartMath prayer for peace connection followed, with faith that HeartMath will structure and send coherent global conscience messages of love and peace. GC: 17-2-21. Meditation apprehension was of HeartMath as providing peace, symmetry and structure for direct download from God/Spirit. Reflection arose that Fitbit sleep scale usually classifies meditation as rapid eye movement (REM) or light sleep. Much meditation for scientific papers is usually

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Zulu healers, and how the development of an African heart-breath workshop, SHISO, led to collaborative HeartMath, African Global Coherence Initiative (GCI) Magnetometer installation one week after son David’s wedding at Bonamanzi Game Reserve. The SHISO workshop uses an old, isiZulu, respectful term for a human being, Shiso, as an acronym for a healing event focusing on Spirit (umoya), Heart (inhliziyo), Image (umcabango), Soul (umphefumulo) and Oneness (ubunye). For interested persons the video of this story accompanied by beautiful South African music by the late Johnny Clegg may be viewed at https:// www.heartmath.org/gci/gcms/heartmathsouth-africa-global-coherence-monitoringsystem-installation/. This reflective meditation reverie connected Africa with Spain, Christianity with Islam, the Inquisition, the Divine Feminine, and such heroines as Hypatia in Alexandria and Teresa of Avilla. There was a typical meditation experience of how everything is interlinked through the noosphere of human, communal, spiritual networks. Interestingly interconnected in COVID-19 struggling times are the slogans “All for One and one for All” and “An injury to one is an injury to all.” GC: 16-2-21. In my view, meditations from different wisdom traditions are essentially complementary and form part of a total spectrum. Certainly, this is the case with heart-based meditations such as heart prayer, centering Prayer and the relaxation response, where there is no emphasis on breath and only focus on out-breath respectively. This session used both to complement and compare with HeartMath. As my Centering prayer, gestural, releasing, heartbeat inhale: exhale, ratio pattern is usually 2:3 there is still relatively more sympathetic involvement than a typically relaxed entropic pattern where exhale is twice as long as inhale. In the past, I have experimented with various heart-beat breathing patterns, yet this 2:3 pattern

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done in the early morning as this is the best possible time for the best direct download from God and highest or best Self. So this can mean some loss of sleep, especially when using relaxation response and Centering prayer. One particular personal advantage of HeartMath praxis is that it also helps with mild emphysema and hay fever, recently related to air pollution that occurs near big cities like Durban, which lies about 16 kilometers south of where we live. Inner Balance Findings. The IB quantitative data over 5 days is really only reported here for sake of completion. These were mean coherence, achievement, pulse and meditation session time in minutes, which yielded scores of 7.3, 1079, 54 and 12.6 respectively. These were all contemplation sessions typically radiating healing, life, love and light. Both IB and GC meditation sessions used a longer respiration pattern developed in 2020 at the same time as learning of COVID 19. They reflected intuition of immanent spirit in nature with its deeper rhythms, for example, facilitating connection with slower, soft, silent, smooth, spiritual, spiraling rhythms of trees, universal Heart of the cosmos and radiating intentional healing to a polluted planet. Although Prayer of the Heart and Centering Prayer writers describe the contemplation process well, my perennial favorite is William Wordsworth’s famous poem Tintern Abbey, especially the following lines. “And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean, and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man, A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.”

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IV. DISCUSSION

This pilot study has been concerned with a global and personal meditational perspective on this Dialogo conference paper theme of HeartMath as a scientific meditation method in dialogue with theological phenomena. The reflective focus is on HeartMath as theoretical and applied science concerned with monitoring and measuring the heart rate variability and related theological and psychophysiological, especially autonomic nervous system functioning. Five meditation sessions have been used as illustrative examples. Readers are referred to an earlier study [4, 1] for indepth examples of empirical and heuristic phenomenological research, which analyzed and synthesized quantitative and qualitative data collected from 153 individual meditation sessions using both Global Coherence and Inner Balance apps. There are many other areas in which HeartMath has great value as indicated on the HeartMath research library. One particularly interesting avenue is the integral evaluation of quantitative and qualitative dimensions of such phenomena as Christ Consciousness and joy in small group studies with samples of about ten selected participants, who have a special experience of the particular phenomenon, are able to articulate their apprehensions, and evaluate the study. We have done many such studies. Other examples include Umoya (Spirit in isiZulu), Emptiness, (Sunyata in Buddhist traditions) Christian Trinity meditation, etc., which can be accessed on the ResearchGate website at: https://www. researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Edwards11. In individual meditations, typical HeartMath praxis is similar to yogic, pranayama, energy breathing or Taoist microcosmic light circulation. For example, HeartMath instructions are to breathe slightly slower and evenly on both inbreath and out-breath, for example, five seconds on inspiration and five seconds on

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Android smartphones, users are only able to monitor their individual contributions to global coherence, and related planetary health and wellbeing if they own an Inner Balance Trainer, Lightning Pin Sensor, which costs about three thousand South African rands. Motivated persons who are genuinely committed, can still meditate for planetary peace and health reasons without the sensor. However, although various global health and religious organizations, regularly hold meditation and /or peace days, these still seem sadly lacking in total planetary organization. Past experience with such organizations has seemed to indicate that they were more orientated towards competition than collaboration. Much collaborative health work remains to be done, as in this conference and others like it. HeartMath has been labeled as pseudoscientific in some traditional “hardcore” natural scientific circles. As with any concept and praxis, different interpretations will exist. Practices will be labeled as pseudoscience if they do not follow scientific processes as evaluated by the representative or acknowledged body of experts within that particular paradigm. However most fundamentalist natural scientists will readily accept criteria such as validity or reliability, in the case of quantitative data findings, or credibility and dependability in qualitative data findings, as well as integrative evidence of which is abundant in HeartMath studies by HeartMath employees as well as independent scientists. All of this conforms to basic natural, human and theologically orientated scientific paradigms, whose validity, reliability are repeatedly evaluated by a body of like-minded peers as well as supported in similar scientific studies by independent researchers. Certainly, much of the HeartMath system is based on established scientific foundations as propagated by such traditional luminaries

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exhalation, while focusing on the heartbeat rhythm and generating a renewing emotion such as peace or love from the heart area. Cross-coherence among physiological systems, such as blood pressure and EEG alpha waves is established in minutes. This activates approximate optimal resonance for most people, with scientific fine-tuning sometimes needed to optimize each individual resonance cycle. If individuals are in groups, depending upon the creativity of the researcher, various process and outcome evaluative designs are possible; simple pretest-posttest, with or without control groups, etc., with fully randomized controlled trials being the conventional, scientific “gold standard.” Furthermore, if care is taken to optimize the independent variables (HeartMath interventions) while optimizing control of any other variables, following which there is assessment and evaluation of changes associated with respective independent variables, classic experimental and control conditions are possible. HeartMath equipment can readily be combined with other, typical, psychophysiological information from equipment such as EEG, EMG, skin conductance, MRI, polysomnography etc. In conjunction with sleep studies, HeartMath technology can be used to provide objective indications for states and stages of consciousness variously described as gross, subtle, causal, non-dual, turiya and turiyatita. [1, 90]. Compared to many meditation traditions, HeartMath has a substantial, natural scientific evidence base, which provides empirical foundations, as well as various studies that assure replicability. Along with the Global Consciousness Project, the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI) has significant and meaningful future planetary health implications for all sentient beings [6, 48; 7, 1]. Although the Global Coherence app is freely downloadable from the internet and used on iPhone and

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as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Karl Pribram. It is rather the areas of scientific and spiritual investigation, such as telepathy and psychokinesis that are questioned. These areas will inevitably be controversial as evidenced in well-publicized debates featuring protagonists of religion and atheism, such as those between Richard Dawkins and Deepak Chopra. Some can be wonderful, while others often seem to lead to endless, mindless, academic nitpicking. However, there is significant integrity of science practiced by such organizations as the Institute for Noetic Sciences (IONS), Global Consciousness Project (GCP) at Princeton University and Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edenborough University. In general, concrete data and operationally defined behavior is readily studied scientifically as this can be measured. Scientific controversy centers on operational definitions of insubstantial spiritual events or theological phenomena, which are not readily measured or quantified. Most religions extol love, which is notoriously difficult to measure in transcendent or agape form. Subtle phenomena and levels of meditation create typical examples. This seems a main reason for pseudoscientific claims being directed against HeartMath. This will apply to any meditation method. Then there is the implicit assumption that coherence relates to what David Bohm has described as an implicate order. And yet from the meditation and healing perspective, the following relatively insubstantial phenomena are especially important – relaxation, sustained attention, focused intention, concentration, emotional awareness, insight and action. Particular healing mechanisms include beneficial human relationships, coherent communication, various heart-breath techniques, for example, mantras, precipitating factors, healing contexts and catalysts such as COVID-19. These Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

variables could all be further investigated, for example in deeper, more detailed, dialogical, scientific and theological versions of this pilot study. HeartMath is only one of many methods that could be used. Surely all well-intentioned, ethically sound meditation methods will help. The good, true and beautiful dimensions of all wellintentioned meditation practice typically transcend the rational, scientific, dimension of most scientific practices, just as most meditation is based on what is recognized as immanent Spirit. African Ubuntu is wonderful in its explication of the verticalspiritual dimensions of authentic communal spirituality and spiritual community. So are similar Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Taoist, Christian, Islamic and other spiritual, wisdom, healing traditions. V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE

IMPLICATIONS

The aim of this discursive presentation has been to introduce HeartMath as the coherent scientific approach to dialogue theological information. Specific emphasis has been on HeartMath meditation methods, emerging phenomena and related action. The theme of this contribution has been the ongoing dialogue between science and theology from an interfaith perspective. In this regard, for lighter reading, I highly recommend the book on Joy celebrating the Dharamsala meeting of Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. From an existential, HeartMath praxis perspective, joy is an extremely elated emotion inevitably contrasted with suffering, as in birthing a child [4, 6]. Cynthia Bourgeault’s [1, 13] works on the imaginal world and Mary Magdalene also endorse the special healing of that divine woman who accompanied Christ in healing underworld suffering, Finally, the special appeal of HeartMath, GCI, and GCP are their great potential

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Many people have contributed in some way to this work These include my extended family, Rollin McCraty, Tina Lindhard, Jabulani Thwala, Krynauw du Toit, Anthony Pillay, Martin Tifflin, Elwyn Schenk and Caroll Hermann. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1]

[2]

[3]

Bourgeault, Cynthia. Eye of the heart, A spiritual journey into the imaginal realm. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 2020. ISBN 97871611806526. Childre, Doc. L., Martin, Howard., Rozman, Dorothy., & McCraty, Rollin. Heart intelligence. Connecting with the intuitive guidance of the heart. HeartMath, CA: Waterfront Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-94362543-7. Edwards, Stephen, D. “Empirical and heuristic phenomenological case study of the HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative.”

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16 (2019), 1245; doi:10.3390/ijerph16071245. [4] Edwards, Stephen, D. & Edwards, David, J. “An empirical and experiential investigation into the contemplation of joy.” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 74(1) (2020), 4746. https://doi. org/10.4102/hts. v74i1.4746. [5] Edwards, Stephen,.D. “Global coherence, healing meditations using HeartMath applications during COVID-19 lockdown.” HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, 76(1) (2020). 157-158 DOI: 10.4102/hts. v76i1.6151. [6] McCraty, Rollin., Atkinson, Michael., Timofejeva, Inga., Joffe, Rosa., Vainoras, Alfonsas., Landauskas, Mantas., Alabdulgader, Abdullah.A., Ragulskis, Minvydas. “The influence of heart coherence on synchronization between human heart rate variability and geomagnetic activity.” Journal of Complexity in Health Sciences, 1(2018), 42-48. https://doi.org/10.21595/ chs.2018.20480. [7] Nelson, Roger. “Evoked potentials and GCP event data.” Journal of Scientific Exploration, Preprint, (2020), doi: 10.13140/ RG.2.2.17038.10565 [8] Stanley, Ruth. “Types of prayer, heart rate variability and innate healing.” Zygon, 44 (4) (2009), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14679744.2009.01036.x [9] Wilber, Ken. Integral spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59030527-0. [10] Wilber, Ken. Integral meditation. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 2016. ISBN 978-1061180298-6.

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Biography Steve Edwards is currently an Emeritus Professor and Research Fellow at the University of Zululand. Qualifications include doctoral degrees in Psychology and Education

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for monitoring and mobilizing future generational and planetary healing. The HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative supports and extends many perennial, diverse, local and global wisdom traditions, beliefs and practices [4, 9]. Various environmental research and public health studies support vast, energetic, interconnectivity at planetary and solar systemic levels. HeartMath research findings support much earlier evidencebased studies with regard to a propensity to facilitate optimal consciousness, particularly moral consciousness and behavior, creativity and health promotion [4, 2]. Consider the health effect of seven billion human hearts beating coherently. This implies promoting optimal moral integrity and ethical behavior to encourage and advance such contexts as love, peace and harmony as well as such related everyday relationship variables as empathy, respect and coherent communication.

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and registrations in South Africa and the United Kingdom as Clinical, Educational, Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Steve’s research, teaching and professional activities are mainly concerned with health promotion. He has supervised many doctoral students, published much research, presented papers at many international conferences and served on boards of various national and international organizations. Academic and professional awards include USA Fulbright Scholarship, South African National Research Foundation ratings and Psychological Society of South Africa Mentoring and Development award. He is happily married with two children, and four grandchildren. His research record is available on internet at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/ Stephen_Edwards11

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DIALOGO JOURNAL 7 : 2 (2021) 35 - 43

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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Spiritual and Scientific Inquiry as ways the East and the West have sought to understand the nature of Reality Srinivas Arka

Centre for Conscious Awareness (CCA)-founder Arka Dhyana Intuitive Meditation - founder Mysore INDIA ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 05 May 2021 Received in revised form 05 June Accepted 07 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.2

Western and Eastern philosophical cultures have different perspectives on inquiring about the nature of reality. These influences have shaped the approach to what qualifies as science in the West and Spiritual Inquiry in the East. These perspectives are intimately related to the topic of the reliability of scientific theories and spiritual inquiry and the ultimate purpose of both approaches. This paper mainly examines whether there is something to be gained from an Eastern way of thought and presents its benefits given that our current science has largely been influenced by Western thought. However, any evaluation of both perspectives must also contemplate how future science may be advanced by incorporating these complementary approaches.

Keywords: East; West; Spiritual; Scientific; Inquiry; Reality. Quest; Theory;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Srinivas Arka. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Arka, Srinivas. ”Spiritual and Scientific Inquiry as ways the East and the West have sought to understand the nature of Reality.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 35-43. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.2

I. INTRODUCTION

The philosophies of East and West are two different polarities that affect how knowledge is perceived and understood by different cultures of the human race. Given that science as it is known has been largely influenced by the West, does an Eastern way of thought have any role to play? When we consider the influence of

science in today’s society, it is inextricably ubiquitously present in our daily life. Its achievements are wide-ranging from increasing our average life expectancy to finding cures for many diseases. We now have cars, televisions, planes, that increase our comfort, entertainment and safety in daily life. Technological innovations such as the development of mobile phones, the internet and data handling and storage

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technology have given rise to new forms of communication at instantaneous speed. There are great strides in our understanding of the world as scientists study the natural phenomena in the world around us. But consideration has to be given to whether all this progress has always been positive. On reflection, we find that people have become restless, they are not at peace, and many people are suffering from mental illness. We find our world being cluttered and polluted. Our present-day challenge is how best to preserve our environment for future generations. To address the future of science, we need to shine a light on how its influences are rooted in our philosophical understanding of the world, nature, and the universe. From the point of view of knowledge (or epistemologically), the central questions of inquiry then become what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose of science that comes under the domain of philosophy of science. It concerns not just the scientists’ investigative methods but also the values of scientists and the effects of science on our society. A. Western Philosophy and Science A.1. What is science? What is philosophy?

Early philosophers such as Thales, Pythagoras, Anaximander, Antisthenes, Parmenides, Zeno and Leucippus attempted to discover answers about the world by questioning and contemplating profoundly. They expressed deep thoughts until they felt that a satisfactory level was reached, after which other minds could object and debate. They sought to explore knowledge without conditions and boundaries. It is not simply love for knowledge, but it is an intense passion to know it.’ [1]. They took ordinary human thinking to heights of enquiry into almost everything that can

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still be applied today. Philosophy aims to explore questions such as ‘Who are we?’ ‘What is in our identity?’ ‘Are we minds or bodies or both, if not are we something else?’ ‘What is nature?’ ‘How do things work?’ ‘Why is everything the way it is?’ ‘What is justification?’ ‘What is knowledge?’ or ‘What is reality?’. The lasting nature of these questions signifies that there is no time scale or premise for an educated society to influence an enquiry. In its pursuit of knowledge, philosophy can also be called the first science, or science in the raw. The development of the philosophy of science in both Western and Eastern culture and their investigative approaches to acquire knowledge and its impact on the scientists and society is looked at closely below in the following sections. A.2. History of Science

Philosophical thinking is the original source of science. Democritus’s philosophical inquiry into the physical world’s changing nature resulted in the materialist account of the world [2]. Equally, as no statements are possible in philosophy, but only pure theories and well-presented/dialectical arguments, this provoked science to investigate further using empirical experiments. Western science adopted a provocative research methodology. A provocative approach here is defined in a positive sense, in that it increases stimulation of the mind and asks compelling questions [3]. The research process requires everything to be questioned and analysed, critically viewed and examined, resulting in little or no space for agreement [4] (Glaser, 1941). Science aims to understand the properties, nature and workings of the physical world and reduces that understanding and knowledge learned through experiments and tests to the tangible world [5]. Yes, one gains knowledge, because greater understanding

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A.3. Implications of Western Science

However, several consequences result from the approach above. Firstly, the foundations laid for theories must be correct, as incremental knowledge is added to existing theories. To re-visit them every time from their origin before extending those theories would become a prolonged and laborious task. Secondly, it results in copious amounts of information and can often lead to confusion in which one can get lost, unable to integrate concepts or lacking the ability to see the whole situation [7]. Thirdly, in this arena, the individualised thinking of a scientist takes precedence and the onus is upon them to critique ideas, with the dispute and casting doubt for justification

to attain more knowledge [8]. This results in ongoing studies and information sharing; and in a process where debates dominate, and concepts become more refined in science and technology. Consequently, the West, therefore, promotes intelligence as a result to gain an understanding of the world [9; 10]. What becomes neglected is the emphasis on one’s internal experience [11 When the intellect is used during the course of claiming a position, there is a natural tendency for the ego to be employed to defend any proposed theories [12; 13; 14 In this process, the person finds themselves becoming more isolated from the world; it may even lead to a situation where no one agrees with them. Here, the Self is being disturbed by this constant questioning; and there remains the absence of any recommendations for pausing the mind to take a break. As the mind is the instrument used here to pursue truth when it endlessly continues with questions and answers and it ceases to extinguish into silence it contradicts intending to advance knowledge. Something else is required for the scientist to feel fulfilled. The need to do the opposite: going into silence does not necessarily imply just stopping to speak physically. It is the knowledge and experience of silencing your mind and eliminating questions. II. Eastern Philosophy and Science

An Eastern position in the search for knowledge requires more subjective experiences, without the focus on doing something in the external world (East here implies practices originating from India that include Hindu, Buddhism and Jainism). In the Eastern paradigm, the scientist dives deeper into an inner world as a path to knowledge. Importance is placed upon aspects of the inner life, elevating the consciousness to obtain a better view of

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is gained of different situations, and the desire to test them is the cause that drives science to continually evolve. The knowledge gained becomes a temporary norm until a new hypothesis or theory is formulated or extended upon. After that, the process repeats again going through the iterations of questioning, reviewing and analysing, and critically viewing and identifying [6]. Traditionally, scientific inquiry in the West largely has an experimental orientation when investigating, analysing, and cross-examining any subject area. The logic of reasoning is applied using deductive methods to arrive at some conclusion, which then enables scientists to build up theories and hypotheses, resulting in a proposal for research work to be carried out. To a smaller degree, rationalisation and inductive logic are also applied in scientific thought. Only those ideas are welcomed that are perceptible and come within the purview of the five senses we possess. This pursuit provides us with learning, knowing and the capacity to move forwards to aid the development of technology and increase our material comfort and safety and economic goals.

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the self and its direction. A clear illustration of this can be seen in the text Natya Shastra, attributed to the sage Bharata Muni [15; 16]. It is for this reason that the East has placed so much emphasis on knowing about one’s own inner self, the ‘Atman’ in the Upanishads [17]. The Atman has all the connections to know anything about the world, nature, creation and other such areas. It provides an understanding of the wholeness of the universe [18]. By pursuing an enquiry into ‘what is there?’ and ‘what is it like?’ it complements human development, inspires growth and verifies what individuals are doing. Here, knowledge means seeking truth or clarity in regard to metaphysics as a particular ontology, which contrasts with the Western approach to science. The East thus adopts an innovative research methodology, where experiences are gathered through various methods. It can be via devotion, or maybe just by adoring the embedded form of God or a higher being, via chanting, recitation of vedas, tapsaya (ritualistic practices) or by silent contemplation or dhyana (meditating). Although the East has also developed logic, syllogism, and high-level rational argumentative methods, these are mainly based on personal experiences. Individuals propound their philosophies through their personal experiences and sharing of knowledge takes place. Others note changes in their gestures and their behaviour and evaluate the truth of their statements and their trustworthiness. In rare cases are they based on pure knowledge? Eastern philosophers have attributed their progress to higher forces or embodied energies in deities that are known as devas (masculine), devis (feminine) and devatas (plural) [19]. In order to obtain this grace and special strength, a connection must be made with the deity. A certain mindset is required to achieve great success. This is expressed in the form of gratitude, as

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everything is attributed to something higher. Each deity is reached by some special form of communication, whether mystical, spiritual or physical. The method of communication is systematically prescribed for each specific deity, depending on the purpose of the inquiry. The reasons could be wide-ranging, from seeking a specific boon to acquiring knowledge or for the power to defend oneself against enemies. When chanting, there are specific mantras to be recited. Rituals include performing certain yagnas (fire rituals) and offering flowers or fruits of specific colours while facing a specific direction for communication with the cosmic deities. Depending on the type of outcome sought, deep dhyana (meditation) is recommended, focusing on a specific deity. There are three types of meditation methods: [1] One meditates intentionally to try to experience what one really intends to. [2] Simply allow oneself to experience whatever experience arises. [3] A combination of both. Here the enquirer sometimes experiences the Self. At other times, they experience a universal consciousness that passes over and passes through, leaving a trace, so that the meditator picks up places that they did not intend to experience [20]. A. Emotions

Having gained a connection with the deity, one is furnished with knowledge and higher wisdom. Individuals acquire and deliver such extraordinary knowledge to the world that it is totally innovative, unrelated to previous works. As a result, the East has generally come up with theorems in fields such as mathematics rather than proofs [21]. It is the knowledge that originates from

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devoid of any awareness or recognition of the experiences. Later, phenomenology was developed which was neither based on the deductive method of logic nor the empirical method of natural sciences; instead, the philosophy is seen to rest fundamentally on the introspective examination of one’s own intellectual processes in experiencing the phenomena [27]. B. Connection to the body

Another notion in the East is of gods and goddesses as energy beings that are also connected to our own bodies. Thus, by connecting to their bodies people feel that they can correspond with those deities. In the search for truth Eastern scientists regarded the body as a laboratory and consciousness as a slate. C. Anthropomorphism in Eastern philosophy

Eastern philosophers have anthropomorphised Earth as a mother by referring to it as Bhoodevi or Bhoomata [28]. They attributed Earth’s activities, properties, environment, and atmosphere to Mother Nature, called Prakriti or Prakruti [29]. These concepts are not encouraged in scientific, mainstream Western culture and tradition, which sees Earth is as a non-living planet, with only plants, trees, and animal species being animated. From an Eastern perspective, this Western view defies the fundamental logic of how a non-living entity can give birth to living entities. D. Consciousness

Not much attention has been paid by East towards analysing the mind. For these philosophers, the mind represented only a portion of the imprints of the Self. Although their focus remained on elevating consciousness East did not address

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a place of intuition [22]. For example, for the theorem to emerge a specific sequence has to take place. First, one feels having gained a connection with the special deity, then one thinks, then one says, then one does, then one wonders [23]. Here Ramanujan attributed his awakening of the mind to the goddess of knowledge, Saraswathi [24]. Similarly, Lord Ganesh is known as the remover of obstacles, while to progress in terms of wealth a connection has to be made with the feminine deity known as Laxmi Devi. Each deity or higher entity is an embodied consciousness existing at a certain level. Everything is seen as possible to obtain by doing specific yagnas, or fire rituals. Thus, those seeking to explore in the East attained intuitive knowledge first, from which they developed an intellectual understanding of things. In forming a connection, emotions are the primary mode of inquiry. These emotion-centered connections become devotion that then transmutes this energy into the power of thought towards actions. In the East, philosophy is built upon these concepts and above all addresses human experiences with human emotions, that is, those connected with the ‘human heart’ [25]. As a result, people feel happy and fulfilled as they experience relaxation and peace, progressing in life. In contrast, the West has never talked about the ‘heart’, whether in antiquity, medieval centuries or later on in philosophical enquiry. Even Descartes doubted himself as he was looking for the mind, asking ‘What makes you think? What makes you analyze, understand and reflect that mind?’ With these questions, the concept of ‘qualia’ [26] was developed. This approach to philosophy via critical thinking left little room for experiencing knowledge directly, meaning that the depth of discussion of philosophical topics was

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consciousness directly. Instead, the Sanskrit term pragna/ prajna is used commonly in both Hinduism and Buddhism [30]. Emphasis was placed upon developing ‘atma gnana’, meaning knowledge of the Self, or ‘atma vikasa’ or ‘atma kalyana’, meaning attaining the most auspicious experience of the ‘Inner Self.’ This is quite common in Eastern philosophies [31; 32]. Whereas in the West the mind is considered to possess the faculty of both entity’s thoughts and consciousness [33]. The study of the mind in Western psychology is only to study what people go through in their experiences and their mental functioning. Western expert identifies neurological symptoms, whether depression or exuberance and act accordingly. They offer prescriptions, medications and even surgery in extreme circumstances. This conflicts with the traditional Eastern viewpoint, where this approach is contrary to a natural part of healing. The mainstream scientific mindset includes clear beliefs that a scientific inquiry can only take place through the scientific method of empiricism based on perceptual observations. This demarcation distinguishes between science and other products of human activity like art, literature and beliefs [34; 35]. Thus, the concept of remote healing does not exist in the scientific view of the West. For the West, healing can be analysed and arrived at scientifically afterward, but not in this remote approach. It is therefore not widely acknowledged nor formally studied at universities. A Western standpoint argues that an emotion-based approach is too subjective and phenomenological. It is therefore invalid and does not come under the dimensions of scientific investigation. A counter-argument to this is such fanatical belief in science means becoming more involved in explanations than experiences [36]. In this pursuit of explanation, externalisation of consciousness takes Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

place, leaving little room for experiences. Experience only occurs when you accept it and allow yourself to work on it. The universe includes all possibilities and depends on the choices that are made. If only the choice of externalisation of consciousness is sought, then one only allows oneself to find answers, explanations and descriptions. Though the downside is these descriptions may also change because the understanding of the world is constantly changing in the scientific world. Take an example of particles in physics. Today’s science is now at the deeper level of elementary particle where they have found there is nothing solid, there is no particle. There is energy, a force and a transfer of energy that takes place. There is no photon, in truth; the transfer of an energy point is simply called a photon. This is the same with ‘gravity’. When you jump off a cliff and fall to the ground, what pulls you down is the transfer of energy of some force. Something that carries this force is called a graviton. A graviton is not a particle per se but is a hypothetical particle that exists. Implication: When the understanding of the world keeps shifting as new discoveries are made and the current outcomes leave unsatisfactory results, the science we know should look to alternatives. There are two ways to understand the world. One is purely on individual quest and inquiry, and the other is to work collectively with heterogeneous minds with dissimilar views and interests. Heavily depending on brain-based intellect provides a narrow view of the world as rationality, logic and empiricism are its scaffolding. and for this reason, people are beginning to look towards spirituality, inner truth, and for the meaning of life searching for answers differently in today’s world. It compels us to re-examine our experience of the world, asking us to look into ourselves. It involves questions such as, ‘did nature really intend

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Conclusion There is a need for both microscopic and macroscopic ways of looking at the world. Western science observes nature by breaking into parts to gain better understanding and East enquires about nature to gain understanding of the whole. Because we as humans are in the middle of the macrocosm and microcosm in the cosmos, we need to embrace both in order to be in perfect balance and to know the truth Szent-Györgyi noted ‘the future of mankind depends on the progress of science, and the progress of science depends on the support it can find. Support mostly takes the form of grants, and the present methods of distributing grants unduly favour the Apollonian. The Apollonian tends to develop established lines to perfection, while the Dionysian rather relies on intuition and is more likely to open new, unexpected alleys to research.’ [40]. For the next step forward, it is proposed here that Westernbased scientists first build a heart-based relationship before pursuing their scientific. Only then we can open the doors to reach new unimagined solutions to the many problems facing humanity today.

Bibliography The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Philosophy.” Britannica, 2021. https://www. britannica.com/topic/philosophy [2] Russell, B. A History of Western Philosophy, NY: A Touchstone Book Simon & Schuster, 1972. [3] Brunschwig, J, & Lloyd, G. E. R. (eds). 2003. A Guide to Greek Thought: Major Figures and Trends. Harvard University Press. [4] Edward M. Glaser, 1941. An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher’s College, Columbia University. [5] Cat, J. The Unity of Science. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007/2017. Website: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ scientific-unity/ [6] Kuhn, T. S. 1996. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (3rd ed). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. [7] Iaccarino, M. 2003. Science and culture: Western science could learn a thing or two from the way science is done in other cultures. EMBO reports 4:220-223, doi.org: 10.1038/ sj.embor.embor781 https://www.embopress. org/doi/full/10.1038/sj.embor.embor781 [8] Popper, K. Zwei Bedeutungen von Falsifizierbarkeit 1992. Two meanings of falsifiability. In Seiffert, H.; Radnitzky, G. (eds.). Handlexikon der Wissenschaftstheorie (Dictionary of Epistemology) (in German) 1992 ed. [9] Gottfredson, L. S. 1997. “Mainstream Science on Intelligence (editorial)”. Intelligence 24: 13-23. Doi:10.1016/s0160-2896(97)900118. ISSN 0160-2896. http://www1.udel.edu/ educ/gottfredson/reprints/1997mainstream. pdf [10] Neisser, U; G. Boodoo; T. J. Bouchard; A. W. Boykin; N. Brody, S. J. Ceci; et al. 1996. “Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns.” American Psychologist. 51 (2): 77-101. Doi:10.1037/0003-066x.51.2.77. ISBN 0003066X. http://psych.colorado.edu/~carey/ pdfFiles/IQ_Neisser2.pdf [11] Husserl, E. 1970. The Crisis of the European Science and Transcendental Phenomenology. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. [1]

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it to be like this?’ ‘Is there some kind of boundary from where we cannot venture further?’ ‘Are we living too comfortably, should there be problems beneath our feet?’ Intuition being the source of intellect provides a new domain of knowledge that has been undermined and disregarded, creating an absence of guidance or awareness of the impact on individuals and society at large. The Eastern approach, by comparison, was originally, mainly intuitionbased that focused upon developing intuitive consciousness. Intelligence was just a part of intuitive development. Here it is the opposite. It is only intelligence. Intuition is interpreted as an alternative type of intelligence [37; 38; 39].

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Eemeren, V., Frans, Bart Garssen; Bert Meuffels. 2009. Fallacies and Judgements of Reasonable Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical Discussion Rules. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 978-90-481-26132. [13] Gensler, H. J. 2010. The A to Z of Logic. Rowman & Littlefield. ISN 9780810875968. [14] Woods, J. 2004. Who Cares About the Fallacies? The Death of Argument. Applied Logic Series. 32, pp. 3–23. ISBN 9789048167005. [15] [Schwartz, S. L. 2004. Rasa: Performing the Divine in India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13144-5. [16] Meyer-Dinkgrafe, D. 2005. Approaches to Acting: Past and Present. Bloomsbury Academic.. ISBN 978-1-4411-0381-9. [17] Lorenzen, D. 2004, Hindus and Others. In Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby (Eds) The Hindu World. Routledge, ISBN 0-415215277. [18] Mayeda, S. An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Sankara. In Mayeda, S. 1992. (Ed.), A Thousand Teachings: The Upadesasahasri of Sankara. State University of New York City ISBN 0-7914-0944-9. [19] Monier-Williams, M., E. Leumann & C. A. Cappeller. 2005. Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philosophically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate IndoEuropean Languages (Corrected ed). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-31056. [20] Depurucker. T. 2003. An Occult Glossary: A Compendium of Oriental and Theosophical Terms. Kessinger Publishing. [21] Berndt, & Bruce, C. 1995. Ramanujan’s Notebooks, Part 5. Springer Science & Business Media p.4. ISBN 9780387949413. [22] Indich, M. 2014. Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. Varanasi: Motilal Banarisdas ISBN 81-208-1251-4. [23] Sherman, R Robert, 1985. ‘Philosophy with Guts,’ Journal of Thought. Volume 20, Number 2 pp. 3-11. https://files.eric.ed.gov/ fulltext/EJ1046704.pdf [24] Katz, M. 2011. Tibetan Dream Yoga. Bodhi Tree Publications. [12]

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Gayathri, N., & K. Meenakshi. 2013. Emotional Intelligence in the Indian Context. Global Journal of Human Social Science, Linguistics & Education. Vol 13, Issue 8, ver 1.0. https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_ Volume13/1-Emotional-Intelligence-in-theIndian-Context.pdf [26] Eliasmith, C. 2004. Qualia. Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind https://sites.google.com/ site/minddict/qualia [27] Zahavi, D. 2003. Husserl’s Phenomenology. Stanford: Stanford University Press. [28] Rao, T. A. G. 1914. Elements of Hindu Iconography. Madras: Law Printing House, [29] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2021. Prakriti. Britannica. https://www. britannica.com/topic/prakriti [30] Wilson, E. 2007. Sacred Books of the East. Cosimo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60206-323-5 [31] Hareesh, R. 2007. Prajna Yoga. Ocean Books Pvt. Ltd, ISBN 81-871000-50-8. Prabhat Prakashan. [32] Sahu, B. 2004. The New Educational Philosophy. Sarup & Sons, [33] Oxford English Dictionaries. Mind. OED (n.d) https://oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/ 118732;jsessionid=3A1557471C85237922106D 00F5161897#contentWrapper [25]

Laudan, L. 1983. “The Demise of the Demarcation Problem.” In Cohen, R. S. and Laudan, L. (Eds.), Physics, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: Essays in Honour of Adolf Grunbaum. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, v. 76. ISBN 978-9027715333 [35] Lakatos, I; P. Feyerabend. 1999. For and Against Method: Including Lakatos’s Lectures on Scientific Method and the LakatosFeyerabend Correspondence. University of Chicago Press. [36] Salmon, W. C. 2006. Four Decades of Scientific Explanation. (Reprint of Salmon, W. C. (1989), in Scientific Explanation, eds. P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmon, volume XIII of Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science ed.). University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822959267. [34]

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Biography Srinivas Arka was born in Mysore India, into a family of Sanskrit scholars. He earned an MA in English Literature from Mysore University and began studying philosophy from an Eastern perspective soon after His pursuit to gain subjective knowledge of philosophical truths brought him to personal experiences in meditation. He developed the Intuitive Meditation (IM) approach over 20 years ago to assist others experience their inner Self and gain clarity inside themselves, based on his experiences.. Its focus is upon the human heart through which meditators can experience their Self. The process of sharing his knowledge with others led him to travel in different parts of the world and establish a global charitable organisation, Centre for Conscious Awareness (CCA) dedicated to our connection with Nature, the exploration

of the Self, and the discovery of our intuitive faculty which lies below our thinking, conscious mind. Arka developed a theoretical model of Six Main Levels of Human Consciousness as a founder of the charity to help others comprehend intuitive meditation and explore their own consciousness through this framework. His philosophical construct resides on the triangular effect of science, philosophy and metaphysics on human consciousness to understand oneself and the world’. Although research studies on human consciousness through Intuitive Meditational framework are in its early stages, they do show positive benefits for those who practice it. He has written numerous books on the nature of human consciousness including Adventures in Selfdiscovery, Arka Dhyana Intuitive Meditation, and Intuitive Intelligence Program to help develop human potential.

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Mursell, L. J. 2013. “The Function of Intuition in Descartes’ Philosophy of Science.” The philosophical Review. 4.28. The philosophical Review. 4.28. USA: Duke University Press. [38] Hume, D. A 2014. Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. The Floating Press,. ISBN 9781775410676. [39] Johnson, A. O. 2014. The Mind of David Hume: A companion to Book I of a Treatise of Human Nature. The floating Press. P. 123. ISBN 0-252-02156-8. [40] Szent-Gyorgyi, A. Dionysians and Apollonians. 1972. Science. 176 (4038): 966. 1972. Bibcode: Sci 176..966S. doi: 10.1126/science.176.4038.966. PMID 1777844. https://science.sciencemag.org/ content/176/4038/966.1 [37]

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS) held online, on the Journal’s website, from MAY 21-29, 2021

journal homepage: http://dialogo-conf.com

The Relation between the Consciousness and the Phenomenal World A metaphysical understanding in the view of Advaitic tenet Raghuraman Vasantharaman Bangalore INDIA

ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 17 March 2021 Received in revised form 10 April 2021 Accepted 10 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.3

Keywords: Consciousness; Phenomenal World; Advaita; Upanisads; Knowledge; Transmigration; Superimposition; Spiritual; religious; non-religious, spiritual-wellness; subtle-mind; perceiver; sense organs; mind; Self; self-luminous; māyā; transfiguration; Relation; existence; cognizability; forms; names; illusion; substratum;

ABSTRACT

The inquisitiveness about the relation between Consciousness and the phenomenal world has long existed in the area of philosophy and science. Philosophy tries to understand it subjectively whereas science tries to understand it materially. The nature of inquiry differs in both fields. In this paper, I will try to explain the relationship between Consciousness and the phenomenal world from a metaphysical aspect in the view of Advaitic Tenet. The Advaitic tenet is the essence of the Upanishadic explanation. The Upanishads generally form the last portions of the Veda and are the positive culmination of its philosophy. The consciousness and its relation to actions can never be understood only philosophically unless the power and form of will are properly understood. According to the Upanishads, the whole apparatus of perception is distinct from the Self (Consciousness) and is a manifestation of the physical. Since superimposition of the spirit and non-spirit on each other is the root cause of transmigration, we are unable to distinct ourselves (Consciousness) from the phenomenal world. Philosophy, religion, and ethics deal with only human beings. The Upanishads assert their independence in action but since they are limited in their apparatus of perception and expression, they are limited as well. Knowledge is the limiting factor. With the help of knowledge, we will be able to remove misery and bring a happy and relaxed state. Since we are identified with our body-mind complex, we are unable to remove misery and bring a happy relaxed state. This ignorance leads us to misery again. Here comes the significance of the scriptures. In this paper, I will try to define, how to discriminate Consciousness from the phenomenal world? I will define the nature of Consciousness and the phenomenal world according to the Advaitic tenet. The main topic i.e., the relation between Consciousness and the phenomenal world will be discussed according to the Advaitic tenet. The main purpose of knowing this is to realize Self Consciousness. Hence, this paper will be concluded by introducing the methods to discriminate the Consciousness and the phenomenal world and to realize Self Consciousness. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2020 Raghuraman Vasantharaman. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Vasantharaman, Raghuraman. ”The Relation between the Consciousness and the Phenomenal World. A metaphysical understanding in the view of Advaitic tenet.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 44-50. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2020.7.1.3

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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Spirituality is not only meant for philosophers. It is a way of life to be practiced by every individual on this earth. Being spiritual is not a matter of designation, but it is our duty to enrich our inner soul for our spiritual wellness. A spiritual person will be positive in his/her life and positive to the world. One may be religious or nonreligious, but one day or the other, one will be spiritual. Religion should be used as a tool to achieve our spiritual wellness. Spirituality is a subtle thing to understand. Our mind should be capable of understanding the subtle object or subjects1 [1]. It can only be understood by the intellect which is capable of finding subtle things. We may consider ourselves as a scientist, economist, etc. but life meets some saturation point where we will be unfulfilled by our duties or work. Even after achieving the highest position in the world and earning all the greed and need of our life, we feel that we are short of something unknown. That thing can only be fulfilled by spirituality. Spirituality gives a clear view of our life and also of our duties and responsibilities. With this, we can perform our daily tasks with clear ideas. Some may think that we accept only the physical world and the world that can only be seen. For them, I feel that every living being in the universe is spiritual. Unknowingly we meet our soul daily. In deep sleep, we daily meet our soul. If a person does not meet his soul daily, he will be disturbed in his activities. Deep sleep is very important to all. Where do we go in the deep sleep, what happens to us? This is once again a very vast topic to define. One small example, “as a bird tied by a cord initially, flies in all possible direction and then attaining no rest anywhere, settles 1 dṛśyate tvagryayā sūkṣmadarśibhiḥ.

buddhyā

sūkṣmayā

down at the place where it is bound, even the mind, after flying in every possible direction and finding no rest anywhere settles down in the soul (Consciousness) or the one’s own destiny.”2[2] Then the question arises, the individual soul is not sensed in and what is the cause for not sensing the individuality in the deep sleep. The answer is, as “bees collect the juices from different types of trees. They are made into a form known as honey. These juices have no discrimination in them. They don’t recognize themselves, from which tree they belong to. ‘I am the juice of this tree’ or ‘I am the juice of that tree’ even so all the creatures reaching pure-self daily, don’t realize that they have reached the pure-self.”3 [3] Each man knows himself to be the son or nephew of a certain person and thus does not become confused with the others, but there exists no such discrimination on the part of the extracts(juices) of several trees, even though some of them are sweetened, some bitter, etc. In the same manner, though all the creatures reach pure being or inner soul, during deep sleep, they are not conscious of having realized it. The real nature of all of us is Consciousness. This is very hard to understand. It is also a very great philosophical process. But we must know ourselves with the great distinguished eye. The discrimination between us (Consciousness) and the phenomenal world or the empirical world is very essential to attain spiritual wellness. 2 sa yathā śakuniḥ sūtreṇa prabaddho diśaṃ diśaṃ patitvānyatrāyatanamalabdhvā bandhanamevopaśrayata evameva khalu somya tanmano diśaṃ diśaṃ patitvānyatrāyatanamalabdhvā prāṇamevopaśrayate prāṇabandhanam hi somya mana iti. 3 yathā somya madhu madhukṛto nistiṣṭhanti nānātyayānāṃ vṛkṣāṇām rasānsamavahāramekatām rasaṃ gamayanti te yathā tatra na vivekaṃ labhante’muṣyāhaṃ vṛkṣasya raso’smyamuṣyāhaṃ vṛkṣasya raso’smītyevameva khalu somyemāḥ sarvāḥ prajāḥ sati sampadya na viduḥ sati sampadyāmaha iti.

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I. Introduction

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To realize this discrimination first we must know the nature of the soul and phenomenal world or the empirical world. II. The Nature of Consciousness and Phenomenal World-According to Advaita Veda

What is consciousness and what is the phenomenal world? The phenomenal world is a form with various objects. It is perceived4, the eye5 is perceiver6 when the eye becomes perceived then the mind7 is perceiver when mind’s variations become perceived the witness(consciousness) the self is the perceiver. Self-Consciousness is the ultimate perceiver and it is not ever perceived. [4] The eye remaining the same in all perception, observes the objects in numerous forms. The objects are seen in different colours different shapes and different sizes. The numerous perceived objects vary. At this juncture the perceiver (EYE) does not vary, it is constant and unchanged in all perception. The appearance of different types of objects is because of distinctiveness from one another. Distinctively they are perceived with their various forms. As a unity, the eye is the perceiver. Concerning the objects perceived the eye is assumed as perceiver. Though with respect to numerous forms the eye is perceiver, still it is the object of perception when it is related to the mind. The eye also undergoes numerous changes 4 rūpaṃ dṛśyaṃ locanaṃ dṛk taddṛśyaṃ dṛktu mānasaṃ dṛśyādhīvṛttayassākṣī dṛgeva na tu dṛśyate. 5 All the sense organs should be considered. 6 As the eye is perceived by the mid, here it is said as perceiver only in the relative sense. 7 Unless the mind is attached to sense-organs, they cannot perceive the objects. They rely on the mind to perceive objects. This can be verified like this, the senseorgans are not attached with the mind in deep sleep. So they do not perceive any objects in the deep sleep.

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and it has different features. Sometimes it is blind, sometimes it is sharp and sometimes it is dull. The mind has the capability to perceive all these. As a unity, the mind knows all the changes of eyes. It is the same in the case of all sense-organs. Here senseorgans are the object of perception, because of their variable nature. So, regarding the sense-organs, the mind is a perceiver. Alike, the mind also has numerous characteristics such as Desire, determination, doubt, faith, steadiness, modesty, understanding, fear8[5]. We sometimes experience “My mind was elsewhere; I did not see”. This clearly indicates that the mind is also controlled by the other. That is known as Consciousness or the self. This self is the ultimate perceiver. No other perceiver exists and it never knows. The knowledge of the knower is never unknown. It is well known that mind undertakes numerous changes. The nature of the mind is variable. It has no constant nature. Here mind becomes the object of perception. It is perceived by the consciousness. All the changes of mind are perceived by the Consciousness. So, mind becomes perceived and the Consciousness becomes perceiver. It perceives all these conditions because it is unity. Then, what is the nature of Consciousness? The consciousness does not have birth or death. It is eternal. Every cognised object of the phenomenal world owns six characteristics, birth, existence, growth, change, decay and destruction. Not a single characteristic of the empirical world is possessed by the Consciousness. Birth and decay are negated in Consciousness, by this all the other characteristics of the empirical world is also denied. Growth and decay happen only for the entity which has parts. On the other hand, Consciousness has no parts. So, it does not undergo 8 kāmaḥ saṅkalpo vicikitsā śraddhā aśraddhā dhṛtiḥ adhṛtiḥ hrīḥ dhīḥ bhīḥ ityet sarvaṃ mana eva

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III. The Cause of Appearance of the

Phenomenal World

The insentient sense-organs and mind have been defined as the perceivers with respect to their numerous objects of perception. Do they really have the power of cognition? This question still remains unanswered. The insentientness of the mind and sense organs are not denied. But the intellect also seems to own luminosity. This is because Consciousness reflects in it. The Consciousness is Self-luminous. No manifestation is there in the Consciousness, because from the absolute perspective there is no other entity that can be showed by Consciousness. It is an unquestionable experience about the existence of the empirical material world. Now the typical question arises about the cause of experience and also the cause of reflection. Even though Consciousness 9 tameva bhāntamanubhāti sarvaṃ tasya bhāsā sarvamidaṃ vibhāti.

is above all causal relations, we feel that Consciousness is creating the world. This is due to the (māyā), the Advaitic tenet postulates māyā10 [7] as the cause of the appearance of the universe. It has the marvelous power of creation. It has the power to show attribute-less self as having attributes. This indeterminable principle brings about the illusory manifestation of the universe. It is something apparent to sense, but with no substantial experience. The nature of veiling and the nature of projecting are the two powers of māyā. Creating everything from a subtle body to a gross universe is due to the projecting power of māyā. This is the reason we feel that the attribute-less Consciousness is associated with all the three states of experiences, i.e., waking, dream, and deep sleep. The distinction between the perceiver and perceived objects is obscured by the veiling power of māyā. It may be within the body and also the distinction between the empirical universe i.e., cognized outside one’s own body and the Consciousness. The nature of Consciousness is existence, bliss, etc. but because of Ignorance and the veiling power of māyā, we experience that Consciousness seems to have recognized the self with the mind, sense organs, and the empirical world. This is the cause of the phenomenal universe. Ignorance of the distinction between the subject and the object is the cause of one’s suffering in the phenomenal world. The consciousness transfigures as the phenomenal world with help of māyā. This is the theory of phenomenal appearance. The Advaitic theory of causation [8] posits that the world is an illusory appearance superimposed by ignorance of the self or consciousness11. Since superimposition of 10 śaktidvayaṃ hi māyāyā vikṣepāvṛtirūpakaṃ vikṣepaśaktirliṅgādi-brahmāṇḍāntaṃ jagatsṛjet 11 saṃvidevetthaṃ svāvidyayā vivartate

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any variations. This Consciousness is selfluminous; it illumines everything else9 [6]. There is nothing else to illuminate the self (Consciousness). Hence, Consciousness is the Ultimate perceiver and it is never perceived. Other than Consciousness come under the phenomenal world.

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the spirit and non-spirit on each other is the root cause of transmigration12, we are unable to distinct ourselves (Consciousness) from the phenomenal world Transformation and transfiguration are two types of causation13. Transformation or actual change means the production of an effect that has the same kind of existence as that of its material cause. As in the case of milk and curd, here both cause and effect have a conventional existence. The transfiguration or the apparent change means the production of an effect that has a different kind of existence from that of its material cause. For example, we may mistake a piece of rope for a snake or a nacre for a piece of silver. Here the rope or the nacre has a conventional existence, while the snake or the silver has only an illusory existence. [9] The illusory phenomenal world is a transformation in respect of nescience(māyā). It is the transfiguration or an apparent change concerning consciousness. Pure consciousness has absolute or noumenal existence, and the phenomenal world has conventional existence. But the conventional existence is not eternal. The absolute existence of consciousness is only eternal. IV. The Relation between Consciousness

and the Phenomenal World

With respect to the phenomenal world, Kant says, “It (external objects) is an appearance only not the thing in itself”[10]. Alike Advaitic theory also posits the world as an illusion by itself and super-imposed on 12 asmatpratyayagocare viṣayiṇi cidātmake yuṣmatpratyayagocarasya viṣayasya taddharmāṇāṃ cādhyāsaḥ tadviparyayeṇa viṣayiṇastaddharmāṇāṃ ca viṣaye’dhyāso 13 pariṇāmo nāma upādānasamasattākakāryāpattiḥ . vivarto nāma upādānaviṣamasattākakāryāpattiḥ .

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the consciousness14. [11] The relation can only happen in two different things. But here, in this case, Consciousness is one. The Consciousness in all of is one. This consciousness is overcovered by different types of things. Now the question arises, if Consciousness is one, how come we are experiencing different types of things in the world? Every entity in the world has five characteristics – existence,c i.e., due to which we can experience the existence of an object. attractiveness, pattern (structure or form), and name. Of these, the first three belong to Consciousness the next two to the phenomenal or the empirical world15[12].

Let’s see the above said in more detail. In each and every worldly entity Existence, Cognizability and Bliss are similarly present. These are the common characteristics in the universe that can be experienced everywhere. For example, it is present in all human beings, all five basic elements, (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) in all the animals, etc. If these three are commonly present, how it is possible to distinguish one worldly entity from the other? The names and forms are different for each, which helps us to distinguish. Each worldly entity has 14 brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyetyevaṃrūpo viniścayaḥ 15 asti bhāti priyaṃ rūpaṃ nāma cetyaṃśa-paṃcakam .ādyatrayaṃ brahmarūpaṃ jagadrūpaṃ tato dvayam

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We cannot define the relationship between the superimposed and the substratum. This is because the superimposed does not has any real eternal form for itself. The real nature of the superimposed is the nature of the substratum only. This superimposition is of two types. One consists of superimposing an illusory object on something real, e.g., superimposing an illusory snake on a real rope. The other consists of the superimposition of an attribute on an object. The relation is false i.e., to superimpose redness upon a crystal that is in the immediate physical proximity of a red object. In the darkness, we assume rope as the snake. An illusory snake is seen. But after throwing light we see that the rope really exists not the snake. What type

of relationship can we see between the rope and an illusory snake? There is an indeterminable relation between the rope and the snake. It means that there is no relation between the superimposed snake and the substratum rope. The above same example can be related here in the present context. The empirical world or the phenomenal world is superimposed on pure consciousness. We can never define a relation between an eternal substratum and a super-imposed non-eternal thing. So, to conclude, there is no relation between consciousness and the phenomenal world. Conclusion Now whatever logic we explain, or texts interpret, or the great philosophers tell, we cannot experience some things. Sometimes, our experiences differ from all the logic. But as we all suffer to get some eternal thing and happiness in our life, we should examine our experience logically and rationally. For that life examination, we must hold spirituality as a tool. Whatever may be the material world, to understand its real nature we must take spirituality, philosophy, and science together. For spiritual wellness, we must gain special spiritual fitness by distinguishing the consciousness and the world. After gaining spiritual fitness the Advaitic tenet introduces a special method to attain the capability of distinguishing Consciousness from the phenomenal world. The two qualities of the empirical world are not eternal, because they appear for some duration and then they disappear. But, the substratum of all objects is common and universal, which are the characteristics of Consciousness. We always perceive Consciousness with names and forms only. It is perceived indifferently with the

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a unique name and form and henceforth they are relative. No two worldly entities are identical. But after the denial of names and forms, the characteristics of substratum are experienced, which are existence, cognizability, attractiveness(bliss). It appears as if Consciousness is circumscribed etc. that is because of the limiting adjuncts such as intelligence etc. If we think logically the Pure Consciousness is never circumscribed. Also, it can never be circumscribed because it has no form for itself. But we feel the same Consciousness in everything. As it was said the whole phenomenal world is superimposed on Consciousness. Consciousness is the substratum and the phenomenal world is super-imposed.

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phenomenal world. Pure Consciousness is never perceived. For example, Existence is perceived concerning some object. Existence alone is never perceived. Therefore, the Advaitic tenet introduces a method [14] i.e., samādhi or Meditation, which means the one-pointedness of the mind16. By which we can experience steady identity with Self Consciousness. Meditation, Concentration, or samādhi can be first practiced through the help of any external object. It may be practiced internally also. But in the initial stage, it is to be practiced with the help of gross external objects. Then it is to be practiced internally. This is also known as upāsana in Advatic Tenet. These two modes of concentration are meant for different temperaments. This samādhi and its procedure and variants are explained in more detail in the various texts of the Advaitic tenet. It is yet another great topic to discuss and define. For now, to confine myself to the central theme, I am concluding here. This was some brief effort to put forth my views on consciousness, the phenomenal world, spirituality, and spiritual wellness.

upaniṣad,Dakshinamurthy math prakashan, edition 2005, p. 373 [9] vedānta paribhāṣā, Chowkhambha vidyabhavan, Varanasi, edition 1983, p.107 [10] Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781, p. 370 [11] vivecūḍāmaṇi, The Advaita ashrama, Himalayas, edition, 1921 stanza 20 [12] dṛg-dṛśya-viveka, Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, edition, 1931, p. 27, stanza.20 [13] brahmasūtraśāṅkarabhāṣyam, Motilal Banarasidas edition 2005, p.527 [14] dṛg-dṛśya-viveka, Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, edition, 1931, p. 29, stanza 22

Bibliography [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

kaṭha upaniṣad, Panini Office, Bhuvaneshwari ashram, edition, 1905 pp 121-123 chāndogya-upaniṣad, Dakshinamurthy math prakashan, edition 2005, p 257 Ibidem, pp. 266, 267 dṛg-dṛśya-viveka, Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, edition, 1931, p. 2, stanza 1 bṛhadāraṇyaka upaniṣat, Dakshinamurthy math prakashan, edition, 1986, p.126 upaniṣat bhāṣyam, Volume-1, Dakshinamurthy math prakshan, 2004, p. 115 dṛg-dṛśya-viveka, Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, edition, 1931, p. 17, stanza 13 Ananda-giri, Commentary on chāndogya-

16 upekṣya nāma rūpe dve saccidānanda-tatparaḥ samādhiṃ sarvadā kuryāt hṛdaye vā athavā bahiḥ

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The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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The poor and their image in the spiritual autobiographies of the Christian space of the 19th and 20th centuries Iuliu-Marius Morariu

1. Faculty of Orthodox Theology, „Babeș-Bolyai” University Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2. Pretoria University, Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 05 May 2021 Received in revised form 29 May Accepted 05 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.4

In this research, we will present the way how the poor and their image is reflected in the spiritual autobiographies from the Christian space from the 19th and 20th centuries. Saint Silouane the Athonite, Saint John of Kronstadt together with Faustina Kowalska, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, or other authors will be our sources from the Orthodox and Catholic space, while from the protestant area we will not neglect works like Dag Hammarskj old’s one. We will try therefore to bring into attention a topic that has not been enough valorised by the contemporary research, has relevance for spiritual health, and constitutes an actual subject of discussion.

Keywords: spiritual autobiographies; Saint Silouane the Athonite; Saint John of Kronstadt; Faustina Kowalska; poverty; Teresa of Calcutta;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Iuliu-Marius Morariu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Morariu, Iuliu-Marius. ”The poor and their image in the spiritual autobiographies of the Christian space of the 19th and 20th centuries” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 51-59. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.4

I. INTRODUCTION

Spiritual autobiography represents for sure one of the most important and dynamics contemporary genres of the theological area. Written at the first voice, some of them as parts of a self-disclosure mechanism, the works from of this category come to show the real faces of their authors, avoiding aspects like the encomiastic portrait, most

often dedicated by the apprentice to the master after the end of his earthly life. For this reason, they passed in the last years through a process of re-discover, both thanks to the monographs dedicated to their most representative authors [1, 1-546], [2, 123], [3, 231] [4, 7] [5, 18-134] [6, 1-12], [7, 1-125], but also thanks to the studies and articles speaking about their content and their practical use [8, 97-102], [9,1-5], [10,1-

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5], [11,145-150], [12,1-4], [13, 42-49], [14, 1-5], [15, 1-6], [16, 231-239], [17, 307-312], [18, 191198]. Moreover, they can be used to create bridges among theology and other scientific areas and to find solutions for important contemporary problems. Conscious of this fact, we decided to focus in this research also on the topic and to emphasize one of the important elements presented by its authors, which was not enough investigated until now. Part of qualitative research that will therefore bring into attention small case studies, the present investigation will deal with the way how poor and their role is seen inside the works of the genre. Important works of the genre like Ignacio Larranaga [19, 14], Mother Teresa of Calcutta [20, 14], Pope John Paul the Second [21, 1-632], Saint Silouane the Athonite [22, 74], Nicholas Berdyaev [23, 55] or fr. Nicholas Steinhardt [24, 42] from the Eastern Orthodox space, together with Faustina Kowalska [25, 1-123], will constitute our main sources. We will try to use and analyze some of them and to refer to the others in order to offer a complex perspective on the presented problem. We will also try to extract from their works the understanding of the poor and their image and to find how they saw the relevance of the poor both for the spiritual life and its evolution, as for the social one. II. THE POOR AND THEIR IMAGE IN THE

SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF THE CHRISTIAN SPACE OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES A. Mother TERESA of CALCUTTA

For sure, the most important writings about the poor can be found in the spiritual autobiography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta [20, 13], [26, 14], [27, 15]. Even the educational aspects that are present in her notes [17,

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308] are related to this social category. Her work with the poor, and moreover, with the poorest of them, 1was the purpose of life and the motor of a congregation of sisters. Committed to this aspect, she will double the love for the poor with a strong faith in God, conscious of the fact that if she loves Him, He will guide her in all of her activities. Therefore, as she testifies in her spiritual notes: “I have just left Loreto Congregation and found myself on the street, with a total lack of a place that is mine, without company, help, money, occupation, promises, or any material certitude of warranty. Therefore, on my lips, it came to this prayer: “You, My God! Only You! I trust Your call and Your inspiration. I am sure that You will never abandon me.” [27, 29], [18, 235]. The fact that she loved the poor is something that can be easily proved when one takes a look at her work and accomplishments. Mother Teresa was committed to the service of the poor and had no other purpose of her life than to serve them and to discover in their sufferance and pain the image of God. Moreover, she was the one who tried to do her work as a form of „imitation Cristi”, conscious of the fact that Christ himself saw the poor as part of the categories to whom the Kingdom of God was promised. This explains why later when she defines the rules of the congregation that she founded, Mother Teresa will speak about the poor relating their service with the transformation of work in prayer and with the way how the Eucharist brings into attention this aspect and its effects: 1 As she will mention in a note regarding her work and its meaning: „Together with the other three traditional votes, of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Jesuits make also a forth one of obedience to the Holy Father in questions of mission. From the very first moment of our congregation, we had a fourth vote: the one to serve, from all our heart and totally for free, the poorest from the pour.” [27, 56], [18, 237].

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If these are the main aspects that define the way how Mother Teresa of Calcutta understands and defines poverty as a social fact and gives to it not only a sociological value, through her approach, but also a deep theological understanding, there is also another important accent that can be found in her work and it is related with the understanding that she suggests. Working in the Indian area at the grassroots of her mission, she is forced to face poverty in the material sense and to fight against consequences like hunger, illness, or the impossibility to provide proper education to the children. Later, once that her congregation will increase, she will have to visit also other countries and help to increase the mission all around the world. Here, she will get in contact with another kind of poverty, that will touch her even more than the material one. Asked by a man from the United States of America what she intends to do in a space where the material lacking is not as big as in the states where she started the work together with the „Missionaries of Charity”, she will answer him putting some very interesting accents: “The spiritual poverty of the Western World is much greater than the physical poverty of our people. You, in the West, have millions of people who suffer so terrible loneliness and emptiness. They feel unloved and unwanted. These people are not hungry in the psychical sense, but they are in another way. They know they need something more than money, yet they don’t know what it is. What they are missing, really, is a living relationship with God.” [27, 108-109]. The understanding of the poor and of their role in the social life is, as it can be seen from the spiritual autobiography of the Catholic religious, part of a mission and related with the gifts of grace. The key to understanding the pour as an important element in the complex work of salvation

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“We try to teach from the first moment all the young ladies that wish to become part of our congregation to transform work in prayer, to understand Christ and to do it for him. This work wakes up inside her the love for Jesus and brings them the possibility to discover him under the face burdened by pain of the poorest poor, just as we meet it under the image of the Eucharistic Bread.” [27, 45] [17, 310]. If for the Catholic religious view every poor bears the image of Christ, the interesting fact is that she manages thorough her work to make also others to see Him in them. In notes that make her spiritual autobiography to be similar to the one of Pope John Paul the Second [21, 17], she speaks about how seeing a poor dying or suffering can make much more conversions than the dogmatic theology or the scholars’ debate. For example, she presents the example of an atheist, bringing into attention the way how the impression that a man who was dying left upon him, convert him in a few seconds, without any debate or rational work: “I cannot forget it anymore: once arrived to our house of moribund from Calcutta an atheist. A few moments before his arrival, diverse people have brought inside a man collected from the street (maybe they had collected him in a sewer or in a garbage dump, since it was covered with worms). Here there was a sister that was sitting nearby him, without seeing that one was watching how she was touching the inferno, was watching her, was smiling and all the rest. By chance, I also was there in this moment. The atheist was sitting and observing the sister. In one moment, he came nearby me and told me: I have arrived there without God. I could see the love of God in action. saw Him in the hands of that sister, in her face, in her youth attitude, in her love for these sick people. Yes, Mother, now I believe!” [27, 45], [14, 3].

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is love. Therefore, asked about the deep defining elements of her mission, she will underline the following: „Our mission is a mission of love. The purpose of our existence consists in bringing Christ in houses and bringing people to Christ.” [27, 35], [18, 236]. The basis of the spiritual life and the motivation of the Salvation work that determined the incarnation of God, namely the Love, is therefore also the leitmotiv of the entire social and spiritual work developed by the famous religious that will even receive the Nobel Prize as a sign of recognition of her work. B. SAINT FAUSTINA KOWASLKA

Compared with mother Teresa of Calcutta, the young Faustina Kowalska, a Polish religious with a mystical vocation that will be later brought among the Saints by her compatriot, Pope John Paul the Second, will have a more spiritual approach of poverty, remaining outside of the practical work with it and not being concerned with its eradication, due to the context where she left and to her vocation. She will relate it not inasmuch with others, but with herself and will describe her work and her spiritual seeking as being part of a long process generated by her inside poverty. Presenting the Eucharist as a nuptial banquet, fact that is also often encountered in the works of other mystical fathers and authors both from the Catholic and Orthodox space, she will identify with a beggar, in an attempt to achieve the humility, a quality needed for the spiritual evolution for any Christian. The leitmotiv will be the same one with the aforementioned Catholic religion, namely the love. But while the first one will practice the virtue of love in a relationship with others, following the model of Christ, the Polish religious will be herself thirsty for it and will ask it for Christ in order to fulfill the needs of her soul: Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

„Today my heart prepares for the Holy Communion like for a nuptial banquet, where all the ones who participate shine an unbelievable beauty. I am also invited to this banquet, but I do not see myself in this beauty, but in an abyss of dirtiness. And because I do not feel worthy to sit at the table, I infiltrate myself at the legs of Jesus and eat the crumbs that fall under the table. Because I know your Mercy, for this I come to Thee, oh Jesus, because I want to leave my dirtiness before it will run out the piety of Your Heart... Today, the Majesty of God wraps me. I do not succeed in any way to react in order to prepare me better. I am taken and totally surrounded by God. My heart burns of his love. I have the total confirmation of the fact that I love and I am loved. And this is enough for me. I will endeavour during the day to be faithful to the Holy Spirit and to correspond to His expectancies. I try to have the interior silence, for being able to hear His voice.” [25, 598-599]. Without having a pragmatic vision like Mother Teresa, Faustina Kowalska approached in the deep and dense spiritual autobiography that she managed to write, despite of her short life, also the topic of pours and the one of poverty. Speaking about her soul, she managed to emphasize how, linked with love, this feeling with social relevance, can be used in the relationship with God and offers important tools in the process of spiritual development, is deeply related with its dynamics [18, 197]. C. SAINT JOHN of KRONSTADT and the POOR

Author of one of the first and one of the most important spiritual autobiographies from the Eastern Orthodox space [1, 89], Saint John of Kronstadt (1829-1909), was as his biographers will later underline [28, 57], [29, 20-21], a man born pour. Son of two peasantries from Sura, Arhanghelsk Department, he will use the study as an

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material aspects as being purposes of life, but rather middles called to be used in order to achieve the Salvation, to which everyone was called. Putting the clear accents in one of his notes, the Russian father will show that: “All materials are subject to damage, starting with food and clothing. Sins also lead to the alteration of body and soul. Knowing these, hope in the incorruptible must be kindled in us and impassable. You who go for food chosen, you who boast of luxurious clothing, of houses pompous and wealthy, do you know what you’re doing? You play with soap bubbles.” [32, 462], [1, 248]. He will keep the same note when he will criticize the social discrepancies existing and the fact that the rich ones were doing nothing in order to improve the life of the suffering ones, although that they had all the needed tools. Angry with them, but pour, because the Russian priest lived also a life where the material aspects were badly represented, he will use his notoriety in order to defend them. Therefore, he will write in his spiritual autobiography about this aspect the following: “I went to the villages and saw how the peasants live. What poverty everywhere, what rags with innumerable patches! What faces drawn by the food enough! What troubled faces! But what, they are stepchildren, they are not sons of God? they do not want to look at them, they do not want to dress them, to feed them, to caress them! What a soul the rich man has! flatter, do not envy him, but weep for him as for the most miserable man.” [33, 120]. The complex vision of Father John, the parish priest of Kronstadt contains references to the poor, pragmatically. Pioneer of the social doctrine of the Orthodox Church and the man who tried practically to help the poor, by providing them money, counseling in problems like

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element that helped him to overcome his social condition [29, 25]. His pastoral life will be also related to poverty. Sent in Kronstadt, a city notorious for the variety of the citizens that lived there, coming from different social backgrounds and having different concerns, different levels of culture, and different moral principles or social approaches of life. One of his biographers, speaking about the city and its life underlines the fact that: “At that time, when the father began his service, Kronstadt was a special city. It was a kind of place of exile for the escaped, corrupt and disenfranchised elements of the capital Petersburg. On the outskirts of the city, in huts and huts, lived a lot of the poor, some struck by fate, others drunk, debauched, and robbers of early childhood. The world had baptized them “bosses,” that is, barefoot, who attacked passersby at night; it was dangerous to spend the night in their slums.” [31, 11]. His social origins together with the pastoral challenges created by the place where he was called to be a shepherd of a speaking flock have determined him to become sensitive to the social life and to the pours. Living in a society where the social discrepancies were important, he will remain in touch both with the rich and the poor. This explains why he will be called by the Russian tsar to pray for him at the moment of his departure from this world, why a lot of princes and boyars will ask for his advice, but also why he was often visiting his community in order to offer money to the pours, counseling in addictions or why he created places where pour people could learn a job meant to offer him later the possibility of a new life. At the same time, following the principles of the Christian spirituality developed by the Holy Fathers many centuries before him and expressed in the pages of the Bible, Father John will invite all the ones that he knew to not see the

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the addictions or the morals of the family, but also granting them the possibility to learn a practical job in order to be later able to live better, he sees the poverty as a social plague and fights with all the weapons that he has against it, to contribute to the rise of the general social state of the peoples that he advised. D. SAINT SILOUAN the ATHONITE

Influenced by the aforementioned Russian Father, Saint Silouan who will become a monk in Mount Athos, will also offer a deep spiritual autobiography, discovered later by his disciple, the Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov who will be also his biographer [34] and published posthumously. This book will contribute to his fame and at the same time will constitute an important source in the research from the field of spirituality, but will also have an ecumenical relevance, as can be seen from the reading of the texts dedicated to him. Without being such a pragmatic man like father John of Kronstadt, Silouan as a contemplative will see the poor and the poverty as a relevant element for the spiritual life. His social condition (because he also comes rather from a poor family in Tambov county), will also have for sure relevance in this topic. For him, like for Faustina and Mother Teresa, love will be the keyword. He will also militate for the need of spiritual love and will show that God loves everyone and this is the most important aspect that can help each one of us to escape from spiritual poverty. He will therefore insist on the fact that: “The Lord loves us very much; I know this from the Holy Spirit whom the Lord has given me by His mercy alone. I am an old man and I am preparing for death and I am writing the truth for the sake of the people. He wants salvation for all, so that all may know God.” forgive, and he has given me not only forgiveness, but also His Spirit, and in the Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

Holy Spirit I have known God, see God’s love for us, and who could describe His mercy? and I pray: believe in God, believe that the Holy Ghost is the One who bears witness of Him in all the churches and in God, the Holy Spirit is love, and this love is poured out in all the holy souls that are with God, on earth in souls who love God.” [22, 54]. Praying for universal salvation, he will discover the love of God that will not only fulfill his heart, making him to become from a man who was poor in spirit, an extremely rich one but also will shift his life. As he will testify in his spiritual notes: “As a child, I loved the world and its beauty. I loved the green trees and gardens, I loved the plains and the whole world of God: how beautiful it is. I liked to look at the brightness of the clouds, to see them passing in the heights of the azure. But since I have known my Lord, and He has enslaved my soul, everything has changed in my soul, and I no longer want to look at this world, for my soul is continually drawn to that world in which the Lord lives. As the bird longs to fly from its narrow cage to the thick bushes, so is my soul longing to see the Lord again, for He has drawn my soul, and it longs for Him and cries out: is it You, my Light? See that I am looking for you with tears. If you had not shown yourself to me, I could not have looked for you like this.” [22, 70]. Although for Saint Silouan poverty is not emphasized in its social meaning, it constitutes an important topic. Presented from a spiritual point of view, it is seen as a useful tool for the spiritual life, a fact that makes his approach similar to the one of Saint John of Kronstadt or with the one of Saint Faustina Kowalska and mother Teresa of Calcutta. CONCLUSION As we have tried to emphasize in the present research, the poor and their social

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[3]

Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, Repere ale autobiografiei spirituale din spațiul ortodox în secolele XIX și XX: Ioan de Kronstadt, Siluan Athonitul și Nicolae Berdiaev (Landmarks of the spiritual authobiography from the Orthodox space in the 19th and 20th space. John of Kronstadt, Silouane the Athonite and Nicholas Berdyaev). Iassy: Lumen Publishing House, 2019. Smyth, Adam, Autobiography in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010/ Smyth, Adam, (ed.), A history of English autobiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Olney, James (ed.), Studies in Autobiography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. [5] Morariu, Maxim (Iuliu-Marius), Selfknowledge and Theology – studies in spiritual autobiography. Cluj-Napoca and Gatineau: Argonaut Publishing House and Symphologic Publishing 2020. [6] Raybaut, M. Paul, Les recits de vie. Theorie et pratiyues, Paris: Editions Presse Universitaire de France, 1983. [7] Lejeune, Philippe, Pactul autobiografic (The auto-biographic pact). Bucharest: Univers Press, 2000. [8] Moschella, Mary Clark, “Spiritual Autobiography and Older Adults”, Pastoral Psychology, 60, no. 1 (2011): 97-102. [9] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “Aspects of political theology in the spiritual autobiography of Dag Hammarskjöld,” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 74, no. 4, (2018): 1-5 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts. v74i4.4857). [10] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “Aspects of political theology in the spiritual autobiography of Saint John of Kronstadt (1829–1908)”, HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 74, no. 4 (2018): 1-5 (DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.4102/hts.v74i4.4993). [11] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “An interdisciplinary genre in the Theological Literature: the spiritual autobiography and its landmarks for the Orthodox space,” Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 8, no. 1 (2018): 145-150. [12] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “Aspects of political theology in the spiritual autobiography of Nicolas Berdiaev,” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 75, no. 4 (2019): 1-4 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts. v75i4.5316). [13] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, „The beginnings of spiritual autobiography - 2 Corinthians 12, 2-5. A hermeneutical approach,” Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 11, no. 1 (2020): 42-49. [14] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, „Aspects of political theology in the spiritual autobiography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 76, no. 1 (2020): 1-5 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts. [4]

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role represent important topics for spiritual autobiographies. Either they are seen in a social way, or in a spiritual one, they and the state that defines their category, namely poverty, are topics approached in the spiritual autobiographies. For all the presented authors, the keyword used in the understanding of the topic is love. While Mother Teresa sees it as the motor that gives her strength to go forward in helping the poorest of the poor, Saint Faustina sees herself as a pour and a beggar that asks for God’s love as medicine of her soul, Saint John develops a kind of a hybrid vision, bringing together the mystical vocation and the practical work meant to change the social state of his community and Saint Silouan manage, after encountering God and finding His love, that will fulfill his life, to become a rich man that shifts his life under the work of Grace, changing his priorities to be at the service of the Lord. Their writings, together with the other ones that are representatives for the genre come therefore to offer interesting approaches of the poor and poverty both for the social life, but also for the spiritual one, a fact that transforms them into texts that must be discovered and used both for in the theological and social analysis.

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v76i1.5932). Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, „Spiritual autobiographies as sources of the ecumenism:Dag Hammarskjöld’s case,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77, no. 4 (2021):. 1-6 (DOI: https://doi. org/10.4102/hts.v77i4.6272). [16] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “Saint Faustina Kowalska and Saint Teresa of Calcutta – two authors of spiritual autobiographies from Catholic space of the 20th century,” Astra Salvensis, 7, no. 13 (2019): 231-239. [17] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, “Educational Aspects in the Spiritual Autobiography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta,” Astra Salvensis, 7, no. 14 (2019): 307-312. [18] Morariu, Iuliu-Marius, „Saint Faustina Kowalska - a Mystical Profile Reflected in a Spiritual Autobiography,” Astra Salvensis, 8, no. 15 (2020): 191-198. [19] Larranga, La Rosa e il Fuoco. Autobiografia spirituale. Padova: Messagero di San Antonio. 2005.Calcutta, Teresa of, Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta. New York: Doubleday, 2007. [20] Calcutta, Teresa of, Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta. New York: Doubleday, 2007. [21] John Paul II, Pope, În mâinile Domnului. Însemnări personale (1962-2003) (In God’s Hands. Personal notes (1962-2003). Bucharest: Humanitas Press. [22] Athonite, Saint Silouane, Între iadul deznădejdii și iadul smereniei (Between the hell of desperation and the hell of humility). Sibiu: Deisis Press. [23] Berdiaev, Nicolas, Essai d’autobiographie spirituelle. Paris: Editions Buchet Castel, 1992. [24] Steinhardt, N., Jurnalul fericirii (The diary of hapiness). Cluj-Napoca: Dacia Press, 1992. [25] Kowalska, Maria Faustina, Mic jurnal – milostivirea lui Dumnezeu în sufletul meu (Small diary – the mercy of God in my soul). Bucharest: Press of the Roman-Catholic diocese, 2008. [26] Calcutta, Teresa di, La mia vita. Milano: Rusconi, 1990. [15]

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Teresa, Madre, Sii la Mia luce, a cura di Brian Kolodiejchuk, Milano: M. C., Rizzoli, 2007. [28] Selawry, Alla, Jean de Cronstadt Ŕ Médiateur entre Dieu et les hommes. Paris, Pully: Les Editions du Cerf, Le Sel de la Terre, 2001. [29] Botsi, Petru, Sfântul Ioan de Kronstadt. Portret duhovnicesc (Saint John of Kronstadt. A spiritual portrait). Galați, Bunavestire Press, 2003. [30] Necula, Constantin Valer , Să ne rugăm 8 zile cu Sfântul Ioan de Kronstadt (Let us pray 8 days with Saint John of Kronstadt). Sibiu: „Oastea Domnului” Press, 2005. [31] Andronic, Ioan ,Viaţa Sfântului Ioan de Kronstadt (Life of Saint John of Kronstadt). Iassy: Doxologia Press, 2013. [32] Kronstadt, Saint John of, Viața mea în Hristos (My life in Christ). Bucharest: Sophia Press, 2005. [33] Kronstadt, Saint John of, Spicul viu. Gânduri despre calea mântuitoare (The living ear. Thaoughts about the saving road). Bucharest: Sophia Press, 2009. [34] Sacharov Sophrony, Starets Silouane. Moine du Mont Athos. Paris: Editions Presence, 1973. [27]

Biography Iuliu-Marius Morariu (1991) is a PhD in Theology in Faculty of Orthodox Theology „Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and a PhD. Candidate in Faculty of Social Sciences, Angelicum Pontifical University, Rome, Italy. He graduated the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cluj (2014), the Faculty of History and Philosophy (2014, both in „Babeș-Bolyai” University), MA in „Pastoral Counselling and Psycho-Social Assistance” and in „The History of South-Eastern Europe” both in the aforementioned University, The Ecumenical Institute in Bossey (University of Geneva, 2017-2018), MA in Social Sciences in Angelicum Pontifical University. He wrote, coordinated edited of translated 31 books and more than 350 studies and articles (25 in journals covered WOS). He is part of the editorial or scientific board of 12 journals (3 of them covered WOS, namely Postmodern Openings from Iasi, Romania, Journal for

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University in Cluj. According to the top realized by Stanford University, he was classified in 2019 among the first 2% of the researchers from his field from the entire world. He also cooperates with Radio Renașterea from Cluj-Napoca, Radio Someș from Bistrița, Radio Trinitas from Bucharest or doxologia. ro, where he realizes cultural and religious activities, meditations, presentations of books or magazines.

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the Study of Religions and Ideologies from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies from Pretoria, South Africa, but also journals indexed in Scopus like Astra Salvensis from Salva, Romania, or ErihPlus, like Research and Science Today from Târgu Jiu, or Astra Sabesiensis from Sebeș). He is also the scientific secretary and researcher in „Ioan Lupaș” Centre of the Faculty of the Orthodox Theology from „Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, member of the Centre of Biblical Studies from the same university, Associate researcher of Pretoria University, South Africa and the Scientific Secretary of „Vasile Moga” Department of „Transylvanian Association for the Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People” – ASTRA from Sebeș. As a MA Candidate, PhD. Candidate and as a Post-Doctoral researcher, he received during the time several scholarships (like: „Bursa Bartolomeu” offered from „Metropolit Bartolomeu” Foundation from Cluj in 2009-2010, 2011-2012, 2014-2015, „Monica Lovinescu ” scholarship offered by the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER; 2017), a postuniversity scholarship offered by the World Council of Churches from Geneva (2017-2018), CEEPUS Network Scholarship (2014 in Kosice, Slovakia, 2016 in Belgrade, Serbian Republic and 2018 in Graz, Austria), Adjuvants Onlus Scholarship for the MA studies in Rome (20182020), „Diatheke” Foundation of „Babeș-Bolyai” University Scholarship (2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020), „Andre Scrima” post-doctoral scholarship offered by Centre of Ecumenical Studies from Sibiu (2020) and „Vasile Pârvan” Post-doctoral Scholasrhip offered by the National Agency of Credits and Scholarships of the Ministry of Romanian Education (2021). For his scientific activity, he received during the time several prizes and distinctions. For example, in 2015, he received „Juventute ” Prize of „BabeșBolyai” University from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2017, the 3rd Prize of the National Archives from Romania and also „The Merit Prize” for poetry from Maison Naaman pour la Culture (Jounieh, Lebanon), in 2020 he become honorary citizen of Salva town from Romania, in 2021, 24th of January, he was appointed as a Protosinghel of the Archidiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj and in 1st of March 2021, he received „The Excellence prize” from the rector of „Babeș-Bolyai”

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS) held online, on the Journal’s website, from MAY 21-29, 2021

journal homepage: http://dialogo-conf.com

Ethnographic Research of the use of Music in Healing as a Cultural Phenomenon in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, Limpopo Province in South Africa Morakeng Edward Kenneth Lebaka, PhD. Prof. at Department of Creative Arts Faculty of Arts University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa Campus South Africa

ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 05 May 2021 Received in revised form 30 May 2021 Accepted 02 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.5

Keywords: music; healing; ancestor veneration; Bapedi society; religion; mental health; consciousness;

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the relationship between music and healing in the African context, as well as the relationship between music, culture, and identity. Since the traditional approach to music-making makes it a part of the institutional life of the Bapedi community, among the Bapedi people, the music itself was and is thought to enable communication with the living-dead, often inducing ancestral spirit possession, ‘causing the spirits to descend’. We observe in this study how traditional healers in the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality express their emotions through music, and how they use music for regulating their emotions during malopo religious rituals. The main goal of the study was to examine how these emotions relate to traditional healers’ mental health and wellbeing. A range of data collection and analysis were employed in this study. The research employed a naturalistic approach and the primary source for data collection was oral interviews. The data was collected through video recordings of malopo religious rituals, interviews, and observations. Relationships between music, expression, and movement, as well as music, culture, and identity were elucidated. The results have demonstrated that during the dance itself, the healing power of the dance, is shown by both the trainees and their traditional healers, for example, during malopo ritual, after reaching a state of trance, they become spiritually healed. Villagers who witnessed the dance and participated only as an audience, also indicated a feeling of wellbeing after participating in the malopo ritual. The study has revealed that music is an integral part of the Bapedi culture and heritage. Furthermore, it was found that malopo ritual is a performance for appeasing possessing ancestral spirits such as those of the traditional healers and their trainees, which may cause illness if displeased, but on the other hand, may empower the traditional healers to execute the healing process. The research suggests that malopo ritual binds the people to their ancestors (the ancestral realm) and also provides healing therapy. Songs are sung and recited in order to create harmony between the living and the living-dead. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Morakeng Edward Kenneth Lebaka. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Lebaka, Morakeng Edward Kenneth. ”Ethnographic Research of the use of Music in Healing as a Cultural Phenomenon in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, Limpopo Province in South Africa.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 60-66. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.5

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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This contribution aims to deepen and enrich Indigenous Music Knowledge Systems (IMKS). Very little research, documentation and preservation have taken place regarding the Bapedi indigenous music (Lebaka 2013:57). It is thus worthwhile to carry out a study on indigenous music for the purposes of empowering music education derived from the indigenous culture. This study may help the next generation to assert their cultural identity and learn more about how music functions in the community. The study would also be a contribution towards the wealth and value of Indigenous Music Knowledge Systems (IMKS) in Africa, specifically the Bapedi culture in Limpopo Province, South Africa [6,57]. Of vital importance for this contribution is the role that ancestors play in affecting the living for good if they are respectfully and properly venerated. Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality (see figure 1) is the area that is endowed with a particularly rich musical heritage [7,32]. Indigenous music education is normally carried out through enculturation or socialization process. The nature of meaning in music goes beyond ordinary physical or musical sound alone. It is situated in the northernmost part of South Africa neighboring Swaziland and Mozambique. Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality includes five local municipalities: Fetakgomo, Greater Tubatse, Makhuduthamaga, Greater Marble Hall, and Elias Motsoaledi. In this municipality, traditional healers are known for their traditional healing, singing, drumming, and dancing, and healing is linked with communication with the ancestors. Bapedi people are found in this Municipality, and they speak Sepedi, one of the eleven official languages in South Africa. About music-making in the Bapedi culture, Lebaka [7, 36] writes that participation in music performance enables community

members to inherit their musical tradition. He further observes that it allows them to develop a communal sense and a sense of the common good [7, 36]. In his view, songs are an important part of life’s activities in the Bapedi society; themes and content of the songs are determined according to certain events and matters of interest to the community [6, 57]. Lebaka [7, 32] believes that the essential values of the Bapedi culture are embedded in the culture’s music, its content, processes, and roles. He asserts that malopo1 music is the manifestation of a community’s lifestyles and aspirations.

Figure 1: Geographical map of Limpopo Province in South Africa showing Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality Source: https: www.google.com/ search?q=Geographical + map + of + Greater + Sekhukhune + district + municipality Date: 07 May 2021

Attesting to the above observations, Nzewi [11, 123] writes that in Africa, music and community are close. In consonance with the aforementioned observations, Mugovhani [10, 94] writes that African indigenous music, permeating the whole gamut of African life (socio-cultural, socio1 Malopo music is an indigenous knowledge system. It is a cultural expression-indeed the expression and reflection of Bapedi culture. Through it, the past is re-lived, the present savoured and the future projected.

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I. Introduction

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religious, political, etc.), and predating colonial days, defines and identifies Africans. In the same vein, Ogunrinade [13, 109] surmises quite realistically that music and every aspect of life activities are inseparable in an African setting to the degree that every activity has music attached to it. In his view, traditional music knowledge enables the community to achieve stable and peaceful concomitance within their environment [13, 110]. He believes that it can be understood in terms of its affirmation of ethnic identity and dynamics in responding to a changing environment [ibidem]. He further elaborates that it is the basis for local-level musicmaking in many rural communities which has an irreplaceable and inimitable value for the culture in which it evolves [ibidem]. II. Theoretical Framework

This study is underpinned by the philosophical theory of Nativism as advocated by Smith (1999) and supported by Stone (1998), who argues that it is practically not possible to separate music from the cultural context. The theory resonates well with music heritage in an African setting. This theory views music, culture, and identity as inseparable. The theory further affirms that everyone is born with the abilities to and of success; specialized genetically inherited psychological abilities enable them to learn and acquire certain skills. The Bapedi context is ideal for this model since, when the process of music in healing in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality is analyzed and examined through the theoretical framework of the study, the knowledge is co-produced, co-constructed and skills are learned in real-life situations. The present research complies with this endeavour because in the context of this study, the music gives the activities identity and meaning on the one hand, while deriving identity and meaning from the activities on the other hand. Smith’s philosophical theory Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

is in line with the focus and objectives of this study as it emphasizes the relationship between music, culture, and identity. This framework will provide an understanding on how Bapedi people should live their lives according to the fundamental values of Bapedi culture. The discussion below focuses on previous related studies. A. Previous Related Studies

The concept of ‘music in healing’ as a cultural phenomenon in the African context has been rehearsed by scholars such as Gouk (2000); Janzen (1978); Kigunda (2007); Kongo (1997); Mereni (2004), Pavlicevic (1997); Van Heerden (2006) and Wanyama (2006). In particular, Janzen [3, 73] observes that traditional healers in the African context appease ancestral spirits for healing and protection through music (songs, dancing, and musical instruments). On a similar note, van Heerden [20, 219] writes that when music is applied therapeutically, it is used as a medium for non-musical outcomes, and not necessarily to learn more about music. She believes that music therapy aims to improve health, mental state, or emotional stability or function, rather than having a musicspecific outcome as its goal [20, 219]. This is supported by Wanyama [21, 24], who posits that African art is functional, communityoriented, depersonalized, contextualized, culturally embedded, and designed to serve practical, meaningful purposes such as rituals and social ceremonies, the beauty of appearance being secondary. Other scholars clearly feel the same way. Omatseye & Emeriewen [14, 541], for example, state that the African in his traditional beliefs expresses his faith artistically in songs, music, and dance. They suggest that there is some creativity in the way the worshippers express their deep emotions and feelings in the religion they profess. Specifically, in this article, the argument portrayed is that music in healing in Greater Sekhukhune District

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Municipality is a way of life that carries the qualities, traits, and values of the culture it proclaims. B. Research strategy

This study employed a naturalistic approach to address key research questions. Subjects for this study were selected because of their knowledgeable and informative qualities. The primary sources for data collection were informal interviews, video recordings, observations, and literature reviews. The use of unstructured research questions, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a key-informant interview was adopted. Most of the interviews were informal and spontaneous. III. Research findings

Using videos, it was recorded that the malopo ritual plays a crucial role in strengthening the traditional healers to heal, appease the spirits and initiate trainees into the healing arts, enabling them to diagnose the cause of illness and give advice on treatment. Lebaka [8, 156] endorses this observation and observes that communication with ancestral spirits is facilitated through the malopo ritual. He supports his position by noting that for healing to take place, a traditional healer has to ask the spirits for guidance [8, 67]. During a personal interview with Oboneng Masha, a traditional healer (15th of June 2019) at Ga-Masha village, Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, she pointed out that to attain healing power, it is an obligation for traditional healers and their trainees (see photo 1) to invoke the ancestral spirits through the malopo songs.

Photo 1: Ancestor Veneration: traditional healers and trainees interviewed after the malopo ritual, said they felt young in their bodies and minds, and some said,

they felt rejuvenated (Kotsiri village, Schoonoord, 18.10.2003), Photographer: Morakeng Lebaka.

Regarding the relationship between music and healing, the study has shown that during the dance itself, the healing power of the malopo ritual is shown by the traditional healers and their trainees, who, after reaching a state of trance, become spiritually healed. After reviewing the results yielded thus far, it is clear that in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality the daily religious and social activities of the Bapedi people is based on ancestor veneration, and they create music for these activities, appease their ancestors, as well as reflect on human experiences. This aligns with Omatseye & Emeriewen’s [14, 530], argument which asserts that in the traditional African culture, arts generally, as verbal and non-verbal are largely functional. According to these scholars, sculptures, songs, dance, myths, incantations, etc. are oftentimes expressions of African beliefs and practices. They further assert that they are also artistic portrayals of traditional African religion. They believe that such art forms serve as the center of power, which links man’s beliefs, his essence, and existence to the physical world. The results of this study also support Thabede’s [19, 242] assertion of the vital role played by the ancestors. He writes that

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during a trance-like state of consciousness, a traditional healer is believed to be in contact with the ancestors. According to him, Africans do not worship their ancestors; but remember them by performing certain rites and rituals such as libation and giving of food to the departed as tokens of fellowship, hospitality and respect [19, 239]. He believes that ancestors are the departed souls of the deceased. In his view, though they are regarded as having gone to abide in the earth, they continue to have a relationship with those still living in the village [ibidem]. This study contributes to the notion that music does not heal directly, but remains an essential element in the healing process. This knowledge may help us to understand that malopo songs serve as the medium of communication between the traditional healer and the ancestral/spiritual realm. Informal interviews indicated that for traditional healers in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality and elsewhere, malopo songs and divination bones are regarded as the most effective mode of communicating with their ancestors. Ogunrinade [13, 111] endorses this observation by stating that directly and indirectly, traditional music performs communication roles through singing and use of a musical instrument to spread messages to near and far distant concerning both peaceful, war signal and announcement of certain events to the public. According to him, this is one of the leading functions of music in African society. IV. Discussion

Concerning the comments and observations made by various research scholars in this article, it is evident that in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, malopo tradition is rooted in a sense of Bapedi people’s cultural heritage and identity, and traditional healers and their trainees believe that participation in malopo rituals induces a physical-psychologicalSession 1. Spiritual Wellness

mental process. Research evidence now suggests that specific songs during malopo rituals are therapeutic and assist in improving the health and sense of wellbeing of both traditional healers and their trainees. Informal interviews have shown that after participating in malopo rituals, traditional healers and trainees feel young in the body and mind, and some have indicated that they feel rejuvenated. The above views and observations are supported by Ogunrinade [13, 111]. He observes that as an integral part of life, music is used during daily activities to disseminate information of societal interest and to arouse emotions; and for important occasional events like initiation, rituals, and coronation ceremonies. In his view, traditional songs remind and repeat what has happened in the past since music is meant for various daily activities in the life of man. Comments by Ogunrinade are noteworthy because villagers who were interviewed after witnessing the malopo rituals, although participating only as an audience by clapping hands and ululating, also indicated a feeling of well-being afterwards. The results yielded thus far have shown that Bapedi people sing malopo songs to strengthen their relationship with their ancestors. The data so far gathered have shown that Bapedi cultural heritage and identity have not been lost and still exist. An interesting dimension of this study is the innovative, creative and artistic work which is directly related to how the traditional healers and trainees create different complex rhythmic patterns and produce complex rhythmic songs. Some songs emerge as some are abandoned. Conclusions and Recommendations It has emerged from this study that music in itself is healing. The results suggest that malopo rituals are aimed at enriching the personal and social life of

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the Bapedi community. Indications from the investigation suggest that in Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, traditional healers’ music is rich in terms of culture and functionality, and is part of culture. Based on these findings and discussions, it is arguable that promoting well-being is the central theme of malopo songs, and healing by traditional healers is linked with effective communication with the ancestors. It is clear that Bapedi cultural heritage is rich in significance, and could, if kept alive, lead to exciting creative possibilities in the present and the future. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested therefore that Bapedi people should not allow this legacy to fade away without transmitting it to the current and next generation.

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Centering on African Practice in Musical Arts Education, pp. 3-260. African Minds. [21] Wanyama, M. N. 2006. “The philosophy of art reflected in African music: A Comparative analysis of Western and African aesthetic perspectives”, pp. 17-30. In Minette Mans (ed.). Centering on African Practice in Musical Arts Education, pp. 3-260. African Minds.

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The Role of the Ancestors in Healing: A Zululand Follow up Study Jabulani Dennis THWALA, PhD

Professor Emeritus at the Psychology Department; University of Zululand Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886 Richards Bay, South Africa

Stephen David EDWARDS, PhD DEd

Professor Emeritus at the Psychology Department; University of Zululand Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886 Richards Bay, South Africa

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 28 February 2021 Received in revised form 30 May Accepted 02 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.6

Ancestral consciousness, reverence, beliefs, and practices, forms an essential foundation for religion and healing. African religion and healing are based on the interconnectedness of all life, including ancestral heritage linked to an original creative Source, usually known through dreams via the extended family, community and collective unconscious. People only exist because of their ancestors’ gift of life and nurturance. Zulu people traditionally recognize and honour ancestors as the existential foundation for all humanization and socialization. Motivation for this study arose because of the popularity of a previous Zululand study on the role of the ancestors in healing, as well as the more recent one on coping with COVID-19. A convenience sample of twelve participants was asked to describe their understanding of the role of the ancestors in healing. Respondents indicated that although ancestors are typically not healers, unless they occupied healing roles in life such as Shembe, in their closer connection to the Creator/God, they play various roles in healing. The most important roles were of guidance, protection, direction, advice, warning, presence, communication, mediation, and intervention. The implications of these healing roles are discussed with special reference to Zulu indigenous healers. In addition to common components of healing found throughout the planet, Zulu healing is holistically interconnected with everyday life and death, as facilitated by indigenous healers through ancestors (amadlozi) breath/ soul (umphefumulo), spiritual energy (umoya), humanity (ubuntu) and coherent communication (masihambisana).

Keywords: Ancestors; healing; Africa; Zulu; Follow up study;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Jabulani Dennis Thwala and Stephen David Edwards. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Thwala, Jabulani Dennis and Stephen David Edwards. ”The Role of the Ancestors in Healing: A Zululand Follow up Study.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 67-74. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.6

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I. Introduction

Ancestral reverence of great historical figures is the essence of many schools of wisdom, spirituality and religion [1]. We only have to consider the veneration of great personages such as Buddha, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Hypatia, and Mandela to appreciate the implicit truth of such an argument. African pyramids, Indian temples, and earliest writings honoured great people [2]. Ancestral consciousness and related beliefs and practices, rites and ceremonies, found throughout the planet, proliferate in Africa [3]. This is scarcely surprising in terms of scientific evidence pointing consistently to humanity’s African roots [4]. It may also explain the profound homecoming sentience of many first-time visitors to Africa. African spiritual healing lauds all life given through the ancestors. The San people of southern Africa represent the oldest known genetic lineage of modern humanity [4]. Direct information as to spiritual, communal healing comes from rock paintings in many cave sites in Southern Africa. Kalahari !Kung describes themselves as the “first” or “real” people [5]. They are justly famous for their communal, spiritual, healing dances, which occur regularly around a fire and can last throughout the night. Observing dances is a wonderful experience. Older women usually beat the drum, producing throbbing, energetic sounds (num), while foot-stamping healers, usually men, circle around the fire in a gyrating dance. The healers open themselves to illness (hxabe), enter a states of altered consciousness (!kia) and collaborate in pulling (twe) the sickness out. This can cause a healer to collapse but his place is immediately taken by another healer sharing the healing load [5]. The focus of this study is on traditional Zulu ancestors and healing. What San healers refer to a Spirit, (#oab,) or Wind [5], Zulu healers call umoya. Similarly, in Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

other languages, the names given to spirit and soul are related to wind and breath. A common Zulu term for ancestors is amadlozi (spirits). From abroad, inclusive perspective, ancestral consciousness includes awareness of our total cosmic heritage, including planet earth and the solar system. For millennia, indigenous peoples throughout planet earth have honoured life as profoundly interconnected. Such a planetary perception, our human propensity to build social relationships, and the astonishing local popularity of an earlier study on the role of the ancestors in healing [6] prompted this follow-up study with a small sample of Zulu-speaking people during COVID-19 times. It also seemed a natural sequel to another earlier study [7]. II. METHOD

Research Question: Following the appropriate establishment of an understanding relationship with coherent communication, a convenience sample of 12 participants was asked to describe what they understood as the role of the ancestors in healing. Data Collection. This was an exploratory, phenomenologically orientated study, using a survey-type questionnaire. Respondents, who were assured as to ethical considerations, were asked to provide demographic information related to age, sex, locality, education, religion, and employment. Participants. There were 7 females and 5 males, with a mean age of 53.8 standard deviation of 18.1, and a range of 25 to 79 years. Seven indicated a rural locality and 5 an urban or township place of residence. They had an average of 12.5 years of formal education. Eight exclusively followed traditional ancestral religion and 4 combined this with some form of Christianity. Ten were employed and 2 unemployed or pensioned.

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III. RESULTS

Participant’s verbatim responses to the question on the role of the ancestors in healing follow. Responses were transcribed from the original isiZulu language. The 12 participants’ anonymity is guaranteed by the allocation of a letter from A to L. While they are not healers themselves they play several roles in the healing process. Because they know what we do not know and have experience of, they act as a medium between the healer himself/ herself and us in making sure that we heal and get the correct treatment. Ancestors play the role of being available/present to the family members who do the right things such as appeasing them from time to time. Ancestors play the role of guiding both young and old with regard to what should be done. Guidance from ancestors becomes successful if we respect and honour them. They do guidance in many ways. It can be through dreams where they visit you at night and reveal certain things which will assist you as an individual or as a family. Ancestors also warn us about potential dangers. Ancestors help us emotionally because they are always with us. I feel strong knowing they are always on my side. Our lives become meaningful because of their presence. Ancestors guide us all the time if we do the right things. They are there to give direction and protection all the time. We are unable to communicate with the Creator without the intervention of the ancestors

who closer to Him. Ancestors are closer to the Creator and they act as a connection between us and the Creator to ensure that we are protected, directed to the good life and ensuring that there is harmony in our families and communities because they are wiser as a result of living a higher life than us. They inform all forms of healers what needs to be done. More than anything else they guide because of their superior wisdom. Healers who did not intervene were part of our treatment by those appointed to treat us. In order to be cured, it is up to them to tell or direct the healer. Their presence is still here. They protect us from various dangers. They eradicate disease and bring life if we remember them by giving them food and respecting them and remembering them at all times While ancestors do not provide actual healing as experienced by patients, they are leading the healing process of all people who consult izinyanga, izangoma and other healers. The reason for the healing power is that they are closer to the Creator/God and they are wiser and caring. They can be angry if they are not treated well by the living within the household. Shembe himself is the ancestor who in our church is the leader in any form of healing that takes place. He is closer to God/Mvelinqangi and he sees and knows what we need in order to heal. With him as the ancestor, He advises what to do. For example, if you have a problem, he speaks through a family member who is often Shembe follower who takes you step by step with regards to what needs to be done, when and how. A good example is a person who is unable to conceive and give birth to children. Without using herbs, the person is referred to family member/s who is/are the cause of the misfortune, and provides the direction of what needs to be done. The

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Ethical Considerations. The study followed proper ethical standards and permission from the Zululand University research committee, project number S894/97. Data Analysis. Raw data were subjected to content analysis. Research agreement existed as to final themes.

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advice often comes in the form of a dream where everything is clarified. Of major importance, the client is further instructed to go and “pay” thank ancestor Shembe for the direction given to her. Ancestors form an integral part of our life. Without ancestors, a black person has no direction. Ancestors help us from birth until we are buried. They direct us, protect us and they connect us to the Creator. They act like they abridge between us and the Creator because they are closer to Him. As the herbalist - I have constant communication with ancestors. Due to constant communication with my ancestors, I assign my success to listening to them. They reveal; things to me. They provide necessary instructions. They guide me through the process of healing my patients. They advise and warn me if something is not right. So in the whole healing process, they are present. J. Ancestors play a vital role in any form of healing. They advise, guide, direct, and protect the patient even if the healer has made a mistake. They can even tell the patient not to go to a particular healer if they suspect he or she is not going to do a good job. It is the responsibility of every black person to constantly appease the ancestors. Well, I do because I know it is important. K. Ancestors are part of my life. They protect, direct and warn me of anything that happens in life. A number of people have forgotten how important how ancestors concerning the role they play in healing. Ancestors form a link between us and the Creator who protects and knows us in the whole world. Any form of medication is screened by ancestors. They educate the healer on what needs to be combined and how to be used. They prepare both the patient and the healer for the healing process. One would ask why some treatments are not successful? This happens when we do not listen carefully as healers and patients.

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personally appease ancestors in order to be on the safe side. L. People who heal are chosen through their profession and calling as in traditional healers but ancestors play the following healing roles: Constantly remind healers to be truthful in what they do by appealing to their conscience (unembeza), they wish to do right. They guide all forms of treatment by being there for the patient during the treatment process. Ancestors also communicate with patients especially if they do not believe in the nature of the treatment they are receiving. Ancestral healing ranks for individual participants A 1. Being always present 2. Guiding us 3. Warning us B 1. Protect 2. Guide or direct us 3. Act as a mediator between us and Mvelinqangi/ Creator C. 1. Guide 2. Protect 3. Direct D 1. Intervention 2. They guide the way we are treated 3. To protect us E1. They initiate the course of treatment 2. Guide 3. Protect F1.Directs 2. Advises 3. Protect and heal G 1. Direct 2. Guide 3. Protect H 1. Communication 2. Reveal and provide instructions on what to do and how 3. Guide and advice. I 1. Direct 2. Guide 3. Advice J1. Protect 2. Direct 3. Warn K 1. Link with higher powers 2. Educate both healer and patient 3. Protect. L1. Appeal to the conscience of healers, 2. Guide 3. Communicate A. Integrated Summary

Although ancestors are typically not healers, unless they occupied healing roles in life such as Shembe, in their closer

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K. They educate the healer on what needs to be combined and how to be used. They prepare both the patient and the healer for the healing process. L. People who heal are chosen through their profession and calling as in traditional healers but ancestors play the following healing roles: Constantly remind healers to be truthful in what they do by appealing to their conscience (unembeza) and the wish to do right. IV. DISCUSSIONS

Ancestral reverence links all ancestors to the Creator (Mvelinqangi). Many varied interpretations are possible in relation to the healing role of the ancestors. From an evolutionary perspective, people only exist because of their ancestors’ gift of life as implied in the saying. In addition to ancestors, people become humanized and socialized through their families and communities, as portrayed in the wellknown African saying “it takes a village to rear a child”. This is an essential condition for survival, preceding many other quality of life issues, including nourishment, health, and ecology, all of which have differentiated roles to play in the ongoing dynamic systemic whole making kaleidoscopic process of transformation that constitutes healing in isiZulu culture. The word umsebenzi has many connotations: work, sacrifice and love, as implied by the creative life drive popularized as Eros by Freud, Spirit in Action by Wilber, or Dante as Love [9]. In Zulu culture ancestors are addressed with various terms [10]. These include amakhosi (chiefs), amadlozi (spirits), and abaphansi (those underground). Various sacrificial ceremonies include thanks, appeasement and homestead fortification. There is a continuous relationship between the living and the ‘living-dead’. [6]. Ancestors are known to like peace (ukuthula) and

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connection to the Creator/God, they play various roles in healing. When ranking the various healing roles, the most important role mentioned by 9 respondents (A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, L) was that of guidance, for the healer, clients and community at large. The next most important healing roles were those of protection, according to 8 participants (B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K); direction, noted by 6 participants (B, C, F, G, I, J); advice, as mentioned by 3 participants (F, H, I); and warning, according to participants (A, J). Other healing roles mentioned once were that of presence, communication, mediation and intervention. Participant examples of these healing roles follow. They act as a medium between the healer himself/herself and us in making sure that we heal and get the correct treatment. We are unable to communicate with the Creator without the intervention of the ancestors who are closer to Him. They inform all forms of healers what needs to be done. In order to be cured, it is up to them to tell or direct the healer. While ancestors do not provide actual healing as experienced by patients, they are leading the healing process of all people who consult izinyanga, izangoma and other healers. The reason for the healing power is that they are closer to the Creator/God and they are wiser and caring. Shembe himself is the ancestor who in our church is the leader in any form of healing that takes place. They direct us, protect us and they connect us to the Creator. As the herbalist - I have constant communication with ancestors. J. Ancestors play a vital role in any form of healing. They advise, guide, direct and protect the patient even if the healer has made a mistake.

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dislike domestic discord (umsindo ekhaya) [10]. The focus is on mutuality, humanization, socialization and communalism. Ancestral reverence ensures a spiritually grounded community and humanism as expressed through everyday respect, care and love.

massage and steam baths.

A. Healers

In San healing, healers cooperate in a synchronistical way in healing dances. Zulu healers have become more specialized, yet still have multifaceted roles, diving their clients’ illnesses through messages from the ancestors, ensuring cultural transmission of indigenous knowledge. As with traditional shaman, they negotiate all life, fertility, birth and death scenarios and related layers and levels of consciousness. They fulfill the function of contemporary social roles of priests, doctors, lawyers and ecologists. In addition to providing common characteristics of healing such as beneficial human relationships, dialogue, diagnosis and treatment, indigenous Zulu healers are typically spiritual and communal in approach. There are generalists and specialists. Perennial types of indigenous practitioners include the doctor (inyanga), diviner (isangoma), and faith healer (umthandazi) [10]

Traditional doctor. The inyanga is usually a man, who practices mainly with herbal medicines used in a ritual and symbolic context. Other forms of treatment include Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

Divine healer. The isangoma is usually a woman called to become a healer by her ancestors. She usually has a ninemonth internship with a qualified diviner while becoming spiritually and culturally reborn. Later she will practice various forms of divination and often specialize in a particular type, for example, using bones and/or a mirror. As a recognized medium with the ancestral shades, she will work with the family in revealing the type, cause and treatment for the illness, problem or disorder{10].

Faith healers. The African Indigenous Church (AIC) churches follow synchronistic forms of ancestral and Christian consciousness, beliefs and practices. They provide everyday spiritual and community orientated public health car. Faith healers provided enormous community support during the South African transformation

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B. Energy healing

To heal is to make it whole or holy. However, it is conceptualized, energy refers to the experience of a vital and variable phenomenon, necessary for all forms of life. This energy, often regarded as electromagnetic, as experienced in thunder, lightning and wind, is called Umoya is Zulu, Prana in India and Chi in China. It was called Zeus in Ancient Greece.. In Ancient Egypt the emphasis was on Ra and ka, becoming an enlightened, immortal spirit/soul (ka) through merging celestial forces of the sun god (Ra) with the telluric forces of the earth (symbolized in the form of a cobra rising through the brow). Contemporary African patterns focus on healing through the energy of the ancestors (ukwelapha namandla namadlozi), where ancestors ultimately refer to a vast array of energetic forces ranging from the Creator/being through the evolutionary spirits of nature and the cosmos, reptiles and animals, earlier humans, divinities such as Christ, to recently departed parents and grandparents. [8, 10].

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from Apartheid to democracy. Various empirical studies have endorsed the effectiveness of authentic indigenous healers [8]. A well-controlled experimental study indicated that three genuine traditional Zulu healers, a diviner, a doctor and a faith healer, were in significant agreement with three professional psychologists, concerning the diagnosis and treatment of three psychiatric patients. Healers and psychologists were requested to rank order biological, psychological and sociocultural variables. Moreover the patients rated the indigenous healers and psychologists as being equally helpful. In other parapsychological studies, indigenous healers were able to induce significant alteration in random event generators when asked to beam healing energy [8].

CONCLUSION The aim of this presentation has been a follow-up study on the role of the ancestors in healing. Traditional Zulu views extoll life and flourishing health through harmonious relations amongst people, ancestors and God. People work at this relationship through ceremonial and ritual gatherings to prevent illness and promote health. When viewed inclusively traditional Zulu healing is an ongoing community event, facilitated by indigenous healers, all of whom work with ancestors, breath/soul (spiritual energy, humanity and coherent communication (masihambisana) [8] The findings of the present study again emphasize continual communication between the living and the living dead, whose important roles were that of guidance, protection, direction, advice, warning, presence, communication, mediation, and intervention. [1]

[2]

[3]

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References

Fortes, Meyer. & Dieterien, Caherine. (1965). African systems of thought. London: London University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0041977X00061188 Kundu, Samuel, K. (2013) Indus Valley Civilization Table 1: The Chronology of Indus Valley Civilization DOI: 10.13140/2.1.1216.3202 McLoughlin. Sean. (2007). World religions.

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Star Fire, London; England. ISBN 978 philophonetics modes of healing and 184451923 1 representing the poor and vulnerable victims of sexual abuse. [4] Jobling, Mark, A., Hurles, Mathew, E. & TylerSmith, Chris, (2004). Human evolutionary genetics. New York, N.Y.: Garland Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-0815341857. [5] Katz, Richard. (1982). Boiling energy: community healing among the Kalahari Kung. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 13: 9780674077355. [6] Edwards, Stephen, D., Makunga, Nomahlubi.V., Thwala, Jabulani, D. & Steve Edwards is currently an Emeritus Mbele, Patricia, .B. (2009). The role of the Professor and Research Fellow at the ancestors in healing. Indilinga. African Journal University of Zululand. Qualifications of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 8 (1). 1-11. include doctoral degrees in Psychology eISSN: 1683-0296. and Education and registrations in [7] Thwala, Jabulani D., Hermann, Caroll, South Africa and the United Kingdom as Edwards, Michelle, Edwards, David J and Edwards, Stephen D. (2021) COVID-19 Clinical, Educational, Sport and Exercise Coping Experiences in a South African isiZulu Psychologist. Steve’s research, teaching and speaking sample. International Journal of professional activities are mainly concerned Innovation, Creativity and Change, in press, with health promotion. He has supervised ISSN 2201-1323. many doctoral students, published much [8] Edwards, Stephen, D. (2011). A psychology of research, presented papers at many indigenous healing in Southern Africa. Journal international conferences and served on of Psychology in Africa, 21(3), 335boards of various national and international 347. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2011. organizations. 10820466 Academic and professional awards [9] Nxumalo, Sabello, & Edwards, Stephen D. include USA Fulbright Scholarship South (2020). On Universalising and Indigenising African National Research Foundation the Meaning and Practice of Love post ratings and Psychological Society of COVID-19. International Journal of South Africa Mentoring and Development Innovation, Creativity and Change, 30, 130award. He is married with two children, 144. http://www.ijicc.net/ and four grandchildren. His research [10] Ngubane, Harriet. (1977). Body and mind record is available on internet at: https:// in Zulu Medicine. Ngubane, H. (1977). Body www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_ and mind in Zulu medicine. L o n d o n : Edwards11 Academic Press. https://lib.ugent.be/en/ catalog/rug01:000949290

Biographies Jabulani Thwala is a retired professor in the field of clinical psychology from the university of Zululand, Psychology Department. He embraces universality in diversified modes of knowing. His areas of interest include dream interpretation,

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The significance of Prayer and its healing power Or, playing Go with God Cosmin-Tudor CIOCAN, PhD

Rev. Lect. at the Theology Department; The ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta Romania ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 17 February 2021 Received in revised form 15 May Accepted 20 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.7

All the religious traditions raise endless prayers for living aids, those spread all over human lives. Without the hope that in all our needs and trials we have ‘someone’ to second us, so powerful that can help us overcome anything that stands in our path (more accurate ‘against our wish’), most religious traditions would not be given any consideration, for humans become religious mostly when falling into a trial of life. By this hope religiousness flourishes and religious offer develops. Still, there is another way of considering prayer, one of spiritual becoming, diverse, and at the same time equally tender. It doesn’t offer goods, or aids, or anything specific, instead, it is professed by many spiritual persons that stood in the divine’s company. Theologians call it apophasis, spiritualists call it contemplation. Non-believers assert that the ‘responses’ of prayers followed by the ‘altering’ of reality is merely a mental projection, a Placebo effect of believing in prayer’s effect, or even just a mere coincidence. Either way, we need to learn prayer’s genuine significance and what it really provides. As for the subtitle, it is an allusion to the ancient game of Go whose main skill is to ‘know’ in advance tens, hundreds, or even infinite moving variables with their follow-ups, so you can be prepared and have a prepared answer every time to any move the teammate would make.

Keywords: religious pluralism; meditation; contemplation; religious practice; mindfulness; ritualization; interfaith; religiousness;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Cosmin-Tudor Ciocan. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: CIOCAN, Cosmin-Tudor. ”The significance of Prayer and its healing power. Or, playing Go with God.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 75-85. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.7

I. INTRODUCTION

They usually say about ‘the power of prayer’ that ‘whoever did not pray cannot speak/feel its fruits’. Thus, for one to ‘understand’ what is about the prayer that must be felt or sensed he should get first acquaintance with it. It is, therefore,

‘useless’1 to speak of it and much more useful to practice it instead. “Useless” not as if you shouldn’t talk at all, as a waste of time or an unnecessary questioning, but more like a wandering without direction, a job did in vane without the proper tool. Those 1 ‘Useless’ not like as if you should not speak at all as a waste of time or headless wondering, but more like a pointless

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praying a lot in their daily living, as a habitual necessity, speak of the prayer in a manner we usually see on National Geographic documentary about living organisms – not by dissecting it and presenting from within since it is not appropriate or even important, but rather functional, observing its behavior in a specific environment. In this similitude, I found the usual talk of spiritual fathers about prayer2, not breaking it down to pieces for a profane penetration, but more like an introspection, a presentation of a product, an observation of a living organism that needs to be closely, intimate overseen. ‘Come and taste, for the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34: 8). Leaving aside the burden of the theological implications and statements of any theoretical overview, we find it rather strange that, approaching this issue from a purely spiritual perspective, we find that all aspects we are talking about are not tribal at all - related to a specific, unique confession - instead they are a universal truth, born of human needs and practice. II. The ‘power of prayer’ to the Orthodox Christian Spirituality or How to benefit from the healing power of prayer A. A general, theoretical presentation of the

prayer

As presented in the introduction, the assumption of the definition of prayer in theoretical terms, as an abbreviation of its entire horizon of manifestations, has almost always been avoided by Eastern parents. Instead, what we find in full, is a laudatio, a laudatory expression of its miraculous effects, an invitation rich in appreciation 2 The books appointing in this manner: Arhim. Ioanichie Balan, Convorbiri duhovnicesti (Eng. ‘Spiritual conversations’), vol. 1 &2, second edition, Edited by the Episcopacy of Roman and Husi, 19931990.

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to take part in this inner phenomenon, impossible to present objectively, scholastically. This encouraging speech to take part in the act of prayer is by no means descriptive despite the details in which the parents’ speech abounds. I would rather describe this chapter of theology in comparison with ‘The Song of Songs’ within the content of the Old Testament, a unique writing, no interest in Law or Covenant or the God of Israel, nor does it teach or explore wisdom as all other books do; instead, it celebrates love in a certain manner, distinctive from anything we encountered in the Holy Bible. So is the talking on prayer from those who use it on a basic ground, an invitation to its practice with a vivid laudation[1]. Because what else is this endless expression, full of joy, but still not saying anything concrete about it, dolce parla niente?! B. Prayer’s practical description

Of course, we can always theorize it – as we do with anything else, saying many, but never getting to really ‘know’ it intimately. We can tell a lot of things about the forms prayer takes, about the kind of words we should use; the posture in which we can assume praying: how to bend, lay, or stand; what incentives we can use during pray – both for yourself (such as distinctive music/ sounds, incense, and other elements), as well as for the receiver (offerings of food, burning charcoal, different incenses called the thurible, etc); what state of mind we need to be so that a praying-human gets most of it; what can be the proper environment for us to start the exercise or persons/things to be surrounded by; what should be the proper alimentation prior to praying (from restraining of any consumption for a day to a few hours, frugal eating or proper fastening); items we can use to easier concentration (icons, relics, totems, rosary/ mala meditation beads); and last but not

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3 “Om” is the sound of the Universe, so it’s considered a primordial sound. Even before matter formed, there was only natural buzzing energy that resembled the sound of ‘Om’. Singing or chanting Om brings about the understand that everything is energy and that each person is an individual reflection of that energy. The Om sound vibrates at a frequency of 432 Hz. That is the same frequency of vibration found everywhere in nature. If performed correctly, the practitioner himself begins to vibrate within the same frequency. So sit down, close your eyes, relax, and start chanting the “Om”. URL: https://ohwabisabi.com/awaken-third-eye/, accessed 8.3.2021.

in times of drought, and a lot more other ‘quick helpers’ in various needs. C. The recipe for an ‘outstanding’ prayer:

finding the proper balance

On the other hand, after tomes of laudation praised to the ‘prayer’ and a meaningful amount of practical ingredients, Fathers of the Church give away a synergic path to achieving all those fruits they described formerly. There are so many different roads taken by fathers of the desert when building recipes on how to pray, but in all of them, there is a general list of ingredients. The use of sounds[3] with which we should accompany our prayer has a meaningful play of necessity for starting up a prayer process. I call it ‘process’ so that we can make it easier to differentiate between the faster, ritual prayer, often without the expected effects of deep, meditative, apophatic prayer. We are taught to lift a veil between the world and us, to free ourselves from bad thoughts (hatred and lust[4], pride, insults[5])[6] – thoughts that consume our energy and leave nothing for ourselves. They are mostly responsible for the externalization of thinking, the loss of concentration, the source of the outsourcing of the mind - a common problem for those who practice prayer, whether they are just starting, or have been doing it for a long time. Therefore, to step out of the regularity of daily living and become aware of the dimension of prayer – like a pocket-dimension within this world – we would need all those ingredients: incentives, sounds, smells, position, items, environment, formulas. They are meant to offer to the praying person a way out from reality, a door to another dimension in which he/she finds him/her-self empty from all daily load and can be free to access other aspects of their existence. This explanation is to be found in all religions with very

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least saying few words, as a formula or mantra [ex. ‘Om’]3, in the opening of the prayer ritual. By doing so we can start building an overview of the preparation of prayer. Then we should say some about what are the things you should pray for. And, in the end, a more theologizing chapter would be to understand to whom your prayer should be addressed to; and here is also a full literature dedicated to this aspect. You get a variety of destinations: from God Almighty whom you can address all your needs and desire to a full span of ‘responsibles’ for any-thing you can think of. Thus, there are Saints/Gods[2] responsible for procreation (St. Pious Irina of Chrysovalant, as are those in other religions like Adonis, Astarte, Ba, a-Bol, or Unmatta Bhairava), quick helpers for marriage (St. Nectarius and St. Ephrem the New, Saint Marguerite d’Youville, so are Hymenaeus, Musubi-no-Kami, Hera, or Shiva), deliverers of spells, curses (The Holy Martyr Cyprian, or Atharva Veda); protectors of sailors (Saint Nicholas, as also Brizo, Leucothea, or Varuna); healers of diseases (Saint Nectarius or Pantelimon, Babalú Ayé, Achelois, Airmid, or The Ashvin Kumars); quick helpers for sick animals in the household (Saint Modest, Ganiklis, Tamano-no-Mae, or Pushan); Saint Mina help in finding a job if you have had damage or lawsuits, as it is Aje Shaluga, Caishen, or Bhaga; The Holy Prophet Elijah the Hittite

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much similitude. Why do we need to escape meaningful reality? “Meanings are meanings of things. And some of the things fall under the senses, and some are intelligible. So the mind is occupied with them, it carries within them their meanings. But the grace of prayer unites the mind with God. And by uniting it with God, it undoes it in all senses.”[7] The part of frugal eating/fasting before starting a prayer is usually found in all religious or spiritual guides. It has all to do with the balance between the matter and spirit, body and soul, world and divine. The more you renounce to [enjoying] worldly things (as simple pleasures like eating, drinking, copulation, etc.) the more you can achieve a better ‘praying state,’ for those things are envisioned as a ballast that keeps us from reaching heights. “Torment your body with hunger and vigilance, and engage in laziness with singing and with the prayer and holiness of righteousness that will come upon you bringing love.”[8] Regardless the possibility of seeing this approach from a gnostic, dualistic manner, the renunciation of normal to excess food consumption in favor of frugal to fastening is all logical. “Mercy heals the quickness of the soul; fasting heals lust; and prayer cleanses the mind and prepares it for the contemplation of things.”[9] But the practical reasons are always at the ground of all religious rituals, therefore one is also accompanying this apparently dualistic balance. The use of excessive food rises unclean thoughts, bodily pleasure, desires and common needs – all but natural in a natural living; however, we are not talking about the ‘natural’ course of things, but a try of spiritual elevation. Therefore, a spiritual enhancement is needed, while the body ‘naturalece’ is to be taught down. The motivation in all these exercises is to let go of the external world and embrace the inner one. While the usual compass of our existence guides us throughout the world

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by senses, recognizing things, labeling and marking them for proper navigation, the spiritual compass works in their absence. “Simply close your eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you, but don’t put names on them, simply allow them to play with your eardrums. Let them go.”[10] There is a resemblance between all religions when speaking of practicing deep, inner prayer/meditation, and this balance is their contiguous feature. ‘Closing bodily eyes’ simply allows the inner eye to open When this individual balance is restored by simply renouncing to the ballast of things that emphasize on our material nature (food, joy, pleasure, feelings, knowledge, et al) we are encouraged to create another re-balancing, using catalyst-elements. They are small in their existence but significant in power; they allow us easing, escaping the outer world. They work as an anchor to something else, etherizing the body while awakening the dormant soul. In this category lie all kinds of incentives linked to our senses, all in need of getting numb. For example the smell can become dormant by the use of certain incense. Clary sage, Sandalwood, Frankincense, Patchouli, Lavender, Cypress, Juniper, Rosemary, Marjoram, or classic incense blends Mogao, Paomashan & Ajanta can help you stimulate the third eye[11]. You can let a few drops evaporate on a fragrance lamp, mix them with body lotion, or put in drip them in the bath. Other conventional incenses are Candles with Essential Oils, Heliotrope flowers, objects from Sandalwood, scented incense powder burned on charcoal, White Sage smudge sticks (pure or in combination with Cedar, Juniper, Yerba Santa, Palo Santo, et al) – all these providing purification, calming atmosphere, energy cleansing and other spiritual benefits. While all these so-called ‘ingredients’, in fact irrefutable components of starting

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D. What are the fruits of such meditative

prayer?

When one speaks of ‘prayer’ and what we can achieve through it, most of the time the answer focuses on gaining material, significant goods/services in a colorful palette of things, and that’s regardless of the religious background we speak of. About that ‘kind’ of pray there are other studies to be read of. Once again, compared to the regular, most common kind of prayer, of request/ thanksgiving ones[14], this meditative prayer has less concern to achieving external benefits for living and societal life, while it is mostly directed on internal, spiritual goods. It is usually uncertain if the

‘goods’ all spiritual gurus/fathers are talking about are seen as ‘fruits’ – received after/ along with practicing this prayer, as the spiritual enhancement – or as ‘conditions’ to conduct a higher contemplation – as the terms and spiritual preparation needed to commence on this path. Either way, envisioned as awards or merely tools, these ‘fruits’ are all the same in any culture and spiritual/religious background. You usually hear about people who practice this path having the warmth of heart, clearing of mind/’seeing’, walking aside God, etc. Also, I found very interesting a word from someone of this concern; he says ‘Feeling God in us is prayer, even if someone does not speak anything in words. Therefore, when someone takes the words until the feeling of the heart, one like that will know with confidence that he has prayed to God.’[15] Meaning that even if we are talking about prayer considering the ‘wordy’ speaking, it seas to talk and began to listen, feel, and eventually live with God. It is very engaging in a wonderful way to know that He whom you are silently ‘praying’ to ‘speaks’ back to you, and, by that, transforming the prayer into a personal communication. While targeting the Universe to focus on his meditation a IS human receives some signals in return as well, even if he/she takes them not on a personal level, but more of an impersonal one. The situation of being in a meditative state at all times [or most of the time] harvests inner peace and a fearless engagement into life’s duties. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27) and also “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11: 29,30). When we pray our inward joy is increased. Where is this joy coming from even in times of sorrow, needs, or shortages? It came from

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a prayer or a meditative state, are indispensable, vital, they sum up as a performance, therefore a ritual. As any kind of ritual[12], this one also takes over the logical, rational, conscious, pro-acting behavior and, through the leverages of a – learnt, subconscious repeated, intuitively built – performance, it creates a system geared to respond to unknown danger, including a repertoire of clues for escalating the steps/moods of deepening in the state of contemplation. “Normally automatized actions are submitted to cognitive control and S/R meditative ritual is no exception. This “swamps” working memory, an effect of which is a temporary relief from intrusions but also their long-term strengthening.”[13] However, having all these steps/ingredients/ components figured out doesn’t mean we can escalate the deepest darkness of apophatism just by building all these stage set up. It takes more than just a set up to set things up in a working process of contemplation, but even so, a lack of these elements is to the detriment of obtaining the best meditative-contemplative state that the mentioned setting can facilitate to a great extent.

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the same source as the inner peace: the hope/belief that the Creator runs everything and being in His grace can overcome them all. That is the meaning of Christ telling those in His favor to give up asking things, indulgences, good or any services, for “in that day you will no longer ask me anything” (John 16: 23) and that lies in the belief that “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Same gifts are contemplated in every meditative state in other religious/spiritual background. On the other hand, requirements are presented to us for accessing a meditative state. They usually talk about displaying kindness, a pure heart[16], the purification of all passions and all thoughts about them[17], On top of all these a kind of self-emptying is also required; it is always presented in the fathers’ writings in different ways, either as inner cleansing – making room for Christ to step in [as long as you fill your inner Self with something God cannot step in, Matthew 12:43-45]. The legends and traditional stories about people engaged in a meditative state of mind often talk about how the outer world (nature, the elements of the weather, animals, and spirits) bend their will to those of contemplation. “You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8: 6-8). Without being pantheistic there is certain resemblance to that thinking in all those of contemplative achieved state: that the Creator of things lies in/upon things – even if He transcends them all. For that reason, those who live the prayer state of mind (or being contemplative) see the Creator in everything and honor Him in all things, not as a pantheistic resemblance, but like an inner energy, an inhabitation and sovereignty. Thus, Christ is compared with

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a goat, lamb, doves or pigeons (Leviticus 5:6,7)[18] and thus with anything from creation. In this (universal) philosophy lie two things: a universal reconciliation with things, as well as the empathy and care for all. Through that, “the nature is yet seen not as self-closed, but in bond with the free spirit of man and with the almighty Spirit of its Creator and Supporter”[19] and by the combination of the spiritual power of man and of God the nature is restored to its original harmony (Isaiah 65:25), bend to human’s will and needs (2 Timothy 4:17), and forwarded to the Creator’s glory (Psalm 104:31). III. The meaning of meditation amid

praying

For a right understanding of our point, a remark should be stated from the beginning. Prayer can take various forms, depending on the messages it conveys. For example, prayer can be done individually, but also as a community; for asking things, thanksgiving, or adoration – each of whom can be also of various forms, but this ramification is not of our concern. From all these types and ways to make a pray, I will not engage assertions and comments since they are mostly rituals and they are characterized by theologians as Kataphatic prayer. This conceptualizes a prayer with content, using words, images, symbols, ideas, while, on the opposite, the “apophatic” prayer has no content; it means emptying the mind of words and ideas and simply resting in the presence of God. The ‘usual’ habit of praying is to addressing words to God or a Saint, either is for asking something, praising and adoration, or chanting thanksgiving. Still, most of those above-mentioned rituals are uncommon to these ‘usual’, habitual use of prayer. Meaning that, when a praying person is set for those types of conversations with the spiritual realm, rarely

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expectations, disregarding with all force any need external to this state in which he stepped (noises, shouts, duties, chores, needs, ); it should be done ‘with all strenght’ because the mind is always connected with the exterior ‘world’ and thus it needs to be shut. This is also known as the ‘state of selfteaching’, accompanied by total humility, in which he / she endures everything with joy, without pretending to mention the things mentioned [21]. IV. Closing words: is this for real?!

Before ending this endless theme we really need to add some additional specifications about it. Firstly, there are some doubtful matters related to the meditative state of mind and they are all linked to mental depression, personality disorders, and other pathological states of mental fatigue and imbalance. The thick interstitium between contemplative meditation and psychic illusion cannot be stated by one and thus the latter brings shadow upon the former. Long fasts joined with prayer and trance, tremors, meaningless words, and other ‘odd’ behaviors resemblance in both foretold states making things harder for a conclusive separation. They both pretend to have visions, receive new discoveries from heaven, holy persons come down upon them in night visits, while they are engulfed in spiritual/religious exaltation.[22] That thin line is allowed by the formers since they promote a series of manifestations at least awkward for a secular, untrained eye. Firstly, the meditative prayer is a mean of transcending the world/reality; then the praying human is endowed with peculiar spiritual gifts (foreseen things, bending and transform matter, speaking to undead, etc.), and most of the time they (regardless of the religious/spiritual background they came from) say ‘we are doing same things as others, except that ours are genuine’. How can you tell so? Who makes the difference, I

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he/she is careful to undertake all the steps described above. They mostly use only some of the ‘ingredients’ of this setup (usually the environment settings, the proper position, the formula, and sometimes even a scent or a candle). A complete setup is mostly carefully engaged normally when the person wants to take his/her prayer time to another level, to get the most out of it, to use it as a tool of engagement into a spiritual deeper state, meditation. In this state, there is no need or desire from the praying person to pronounce words of any kind – demands or complaints – and it accompanies praise or a chant of recognisance. To some, it is known as the apophatic prayer, but it is also named as ‘prayer of fire’[20], or simply meditation – a speechless prayer, that only few desire and even fewer achieve it. One obvious fact about that, it cannot be acquired by those who still moan for their sins, unreconciled with themselves and with God, by those troubled, with scattered minds, demanding too much or ritually uttering prescribed forms. Then, the assumption of such a state is made only by a sustained effort, most of the time lasting, which cannot be achieved to order, in all the proposed attempts, or by anyone. We should remember how Moses had to remain for 40 days on Sinai’s mountain to be able to talk to Jehova, or for Jesus in Getsimani to a deeper state of mind-God talking. Another obvious fact related to this ‘unusual’ way of praying is that it definitely achieve inner peace, an impossible mission for all other types of prayers since they require the mind to be present in an awake manner, but “the mind cannot stop rational work”[21], which causes it to be crushed by thoughts, desires, needs, and all the feelings that accompany them (emotion, fear, despair, distrust, excitement, anxiety, etc.). But in this fire/meditative prayer nothing of these are allowed to step in, no thoughts, nor feelings – only a selfless giving up in God’s providential hands. Wanting for nothing, desire of none, zero

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mean an obvious, undisputed, non-utopical proof? Can you be sure which one is ‘for real’ and which is not? Moreover, since the undisputed ‘proof’ lies in the unseen manifestations, outta unseen world – which requires faith to accept. For example, for a traditional Christian the eye-detected matter of bread and wine ‘becomes’ the concealed Body of God; make this an incontestable proof if you can! Achieving holiness is just a matter of faith as most of the S/R things are, but, for those who seek into it, it is an undeniable probability. Another issue that is imperative to be added here is the theological meaning of prayer. In other words, besides the whole meditative-contemplative state a profound and truthful prayer might get you into for achieving catharsis [from Greek κάθαρσις, katharsis, meaning “purification” or “cleansing” or “clarification”], there is always the theological aspect we need to take into consideration when addressing such subject. As it was previously mentioned, prayer is [from the religious perspective] a way of communicating with the spiritual world, God and other beings. Consequently, it is used to serves ‘primarily’ on achieving living aids, asking proper gifts or graces from God[23], forgiveness, blessings, assistance in doing things, corrections for the unjust balance of the world, and so on; the list is utterly long to infinite as we go deeper into the readings of each religious tradition. It is rather curious how God and His grace [work or assistance] can become available to ‘operate’ in one’s favor, most times against others or at least regardless of their existence [will, needs, desire, living, purpose, etc]. And this ‘customised’ assistance of divine grace becomes available only through the prayer, rightly done and correctly considered. From the biblical promises until today, all theologies refer to this theological aspect of the prayer, as a tool given by divinity to conserve the communication between the Creator with His rational creation [humans] Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

and grant humans grace’s assistance to encourage them to soak deeper and deeper into this ‘beneficial communion’. “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13); “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” (John 16:23,24) and other similar promises (as in Leviticus 6:7; 1 Kings 8:38; 2 Chronicles 6:29; etc.) have the same concern and purpose, on letting humans think they can doubtlessly rely on God’s assistance on anything so that they end up joyful – epectase. These promises are bound to the religious perspective only, while the spiritual, irreligious realm does not engage such ‘insurance’. The dispute and debate on this commitment are always up to date and vigorously challenged either by non-believers as well as by theologians for different aspects – I don’t find it absolutely necessary to detail them in this context, but slightly mentioned. How would God further be impartial if He grants assistance to some despite others or even against them (giving full power over enemies, even of death, as in Numbers 25:17, Deuteronomy 20:4 or, on the contrary, punished with the reversed situation as in Leviticus 26:17, 1 Kings 8:33, Psalm 89:41, et al)? Well, let see what theology says in fact about this syntagm ‘anything you ask the Father’. Regardless of the numerous examples of prayers directed to detailed needs of human living that might be encountered all the way, theology speaks of prayer in a hierarchical manner. While the asking (for living aids) prayer is on a lower position in this ‚ranking’, it is far surpassed by other categories, that of gratitude, of praise, and, above all, by contemplation, that without words of any kind, “In that day you will not ask me anything”. Living all human lifes’ concerns

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response lies in the meditative prayer, one of listening, of silence, of contemplation: you do not ask, but listen; don’t speak but learn; don’t force Him to work for you but become His tool; don’t demand things or aids but accept ones chosen for you; don’t assert He will change the eternal plan for your indulgement but become one with His plans. To be more specific with this assertion we’ll have to look into some examples from the Bible. I consider the most fittable and exhaustive example in this regard that of Jesus’ capture and trial. From the beginning, He took no action as opposing to ‘what was happening to Him’ for He was ‘doing not his own will, but that of Who sent Him’ (John 6:38). Therefore, when soldiers came to capture Him and Peter jumped into battle to resist the impending events, Christ said peacefully “Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour.” John 12:27). The struggle between His humanly will and Father’s divine one is always took as a proof of the reality of Jesus’ human nature, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.” (Matthew 26:39). And His obedience to Father’s plan was proved all along since He, being capable to stand against His persecutors, still He did nothing of that; “do you think that I’m not able to ask my Father and he will send to me more than twelve legions of angels right away? But if I did that, how would the scriptures (words of God, m.n.) be fulfilled that say this must happen?” (Mat 26:53,54). Besides this obvious chapter of incontestable divine will fulfilled in spite of Man-God needs and prayers, there are similar other chapters proving the same reality, as about Moses opposing God to become His messanger (Exod 4:13), Job wishing his death but never allowed by God (7:15),or Jona unwilling to fulfil God’s demand to profese His will to Ninive, et al – but all these cases and many

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and needs into Gods’ most capable hands (i.e., providence), saints of contemplation disregard asking prayers for some reasons. Whatever their motifs are to do that, it is a fact that meditation-contemplation is more valuable for the human spirit and its ascent to the ‘highests’. More than that, there seems to be a biblical habit of discouraging the use of request prayer for various reasons, all with a single label, “you don’t know what to pray for” (Mark 10:38) and the result is always the same, ‘Man plans, and God laughs” (an old Yiddish adage). What is the expected effect/result? The exhortation/divine desire expressed in the expression “follow me”[24] corrects this human mistake and leave us with a single possible solution, to ‘listen’ God all the way instead of considering as valid the possibility of indulging God to do as we plan. ‘Following me’ is not an easy concept or a rational one “why should I have to follow Thee, when I don’t even know where I’m going?” (2 Samuel 15:20), but nonetheless that is the reality that happens, for “We may make a lot of plans, but the Lord will do what he has decided” (Proverbs 19:21; 16:1,9) because “people make useless plans” (Psalm 2:1; 1 Corinthians 3:20) but “The Lord destroys the plans and spoils the schemes of the nations” (Psalm 33:10). Thus, since in the end, there is no other – as in ‘different’, alternative – plan that occurs but God’s, no demands can be addressed by Him unless He planed it first or it ‘follows’ God’s own will. God’s will and plan are the only happening reality (Proverbs 21:30; Ephesians 1:11; Revelation 10:7) for “their plans will fail because God has already decided what will happen” (Daniel 11:27). So, ‘following’ God is the way of contemplation, of ‘listening’, meditating on His words, wish, commands, and it seems to be the valid path while asking, requesting, or even begging have no influence on the world’s becoming whatsoever. Therefore, again, what is the sense of praying if no demands are addressed by Almighty? The

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other similar have always concluded with one winner, God, “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain…” (Psalm 127:1,2). References Pr. Prof. Dumitru Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 2, Apologeticum (digital edition), 2005, 43: “prayer opens the mind of all meanings and a it appears naked to God”; 46: “Uninterrupted prayer lies in having the mind attached to God with much piety and longing and to always hang on to Him and trust Him in everything, whatever you do and it will happen to you.” 313: “prayer is the crown of virtue, which God give with joy”… [2] https://www.godchecker.com/africanmythology/search/ [3] https://www.thecompassnews.org/2012/02/ the-sights-sounds-and-smells-of-prayer/ [4] Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 2, Electronic Edition: Apologeticum, 77. [5] Ibidem, 81. [6] Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 1, Sibiu: Institutul de Arte Grafice Dacia Traiana, 1947, 37. [7] Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 2, 45. [8] Ibidem, 76. [9] Ibidem, 83. [10] Alan Watts, ‘Getting Into the Meditative State’, April 2014. URL: https://www.reddit. com/r/Meditation/comments/23287h/alan_ watts_getting_into_the_meditative_state/, accessed 7.3.2021. [11] Kelly Wing, ‘Awaken Your Third Eye Using These 7 Simple And Safe Techniques’, in Ohwabisabi Media. URL: https://ohwabisabi. com/awaken-third-eye/, accessed 7.3.2021. [12] We cannot describe any ritual as the performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by tradition or by sacerdotal decree, since it is no longer exhaustively linked to the religious acts since the entire human behavior is built upon ‘rituals’. It started as an attempt to engage religiousness in exterior behavior, but it ends explaining the apparently universal scope [1]

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of ‘ritualizing’ depended upon the success of any ingrained behavior, like the morning teeth-brushing ritual, preparing favorite main course, sexual prelude, or bedtime rituals, and any other routines and cultural ceremonies. Humans tend to ritualized any complicated routine that include repeated sequences involving obsession-relevant actions, characterized by perfectionism, preoccupation with ordering items just right, concerns about things, preferred routines, awareness of details, etc. See more at Pascal Boyer and Pierre Liénard, “Ritual Behavior in Obsessive and Normal Individuals. Moderating Anxiety and Reorganizing the Flow of Action”, in Current Directions In Psychological Science, 17.4/ 2008, 291-294. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/233918307_Ritual_Behavior_ in_Obsessive_and_Normal_Individuals [accessed Mar 11 2021]. [13] Pascal Boyer and Pierre Liénard, “Why ritualized behavior? Precaution Systems and action parsing in developmental, pathological and cultural rituals”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29, no. 6 (2006): 595–613. doi:10.1017/S0140525X06009332. [14] Their division after work is: the prayer of praise; thanksgiving, and of request. Arhim. Ioanichie Balan, Convorbiri duhovnicesti (Eng., ‘Spiritual conversations’), vol. 1, second edition, Edited by the Episcopacy of Roman and Husi, 1993, 41. [15] Ibidem. [16] Anthony M. Coniaris, Introducere în credinţa şi viaţa Bisericii Ortodoxe [Eng., Introduction to the faith and life of the Orthodox Church], Bucureşti: Sofia, 2001, 87. [17] Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 1, 37. [18] According to Saint Chyril of Alexandria, Writings, Part II (in Romanian), PSB collection 39 (Bucharest: EIBM, 1992), 84. [19] Ibidem, 338. [20] Stăniloae (trans.), Filocalia (Eng., Philocalia), vol. 1, 96. [21] Ibidem, 223. [22] Ibidem, 313-314. [23] Christos Yannaras, Pietism, Thessalonica –

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possible at a high level of involvement; in the meanwhile he made friends from many different countries and religions that are now involved in this project or another, helping in his endeavor. Now he researches and teaches in this direction, towards building bridges between science and theology on the one side, and interfaith dialogue, on the other hand.

Biography Tudor Cosmin CIOCAN, born in Constanta/ Romania in 1977, attended several theological and psychological schools (BA, MB, Ph.D.), obtained his Ph.D. in Missiology and Doctrinal Theology in 2010. He was ordained as an orthodox priest in 2002. Highschool teacher from 1998, then Professor assistant and Lecturer from 2012, he has written more than 65 articles on theology and psychology, along with 4 single-author books in the past two decades. In 2013 he started a multidisciplinary program aiming to engage scholars from different files into friendly and academic debates with theology, and in the same year, a Research Center was founded in Ovidius University with researchers from 11 fields. In less than one year, he managed to gather people from around the globe around this idea, and thus the Dialogo Conferences project has started. In 2014 he received a Fulbright scholarship, and spent the summer in California along with four other states in the USA, gathering data and understanding how religious pluralism is

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Greece: Spoudon, 2008, 45-46. ***, “Prayer”, in New Advent – Catholic Encyclopedia, accessed 8.4.2021, https:// www.newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm. [25] Used over 76 to 186 times in the Bible – depending on its translation, from MEV to CEV -, most times with same regard: as in Genesis 24:5; Exodus 11:8, 14:4; Judges 3:27-28; 2 Samuel 15:20; 1 Kings 3:14; 2 Kings 6:19; Psalm 25:4 „Show me your paths and teach me to follow”; 27:11 „Teach me to follow, Lord, and lead me on the right path”; 119:93 „I won’t ever forget your teachings, because you give me new life by following them”; Proverbs 9:11 „If you follow me, you will live a long time”... [24]

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The Christian-Orthodox teaching about fasting in St. John Chrysostom’s work Vasile Miron, PhD.

Assoc. Professor Arhim. at Department of Theology Ovidius University of Constanta Romania ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 27 February 2021 Received in revised form 09 April 2021 Accepted 05 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.8

Keywords: the station; abstinence; avidity; passions; spiritually cleanliness;

Attempting to present the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about fasting, we must specify from the very beginning that this holy father does not ascribe the fasting a medical and culinary meaning, in the sense of diet change or variation of foods, but a spiritual meaning. In the spiritual sense, fasting is not a mere moral exercise of willpower and control of the physical passions and urges, but a freely accepted sacrifice out of love and respect to God. The man who loves God is happy to offer Him this sacrifice, which consists of renouncing food, drink and amusement, games, and, first and foremost sin. Such a believer does not darken his face but maintains his good mood, showing people the joy emerging from fasting, because naturally, anyone feels joy when he makes an act of charity and sacrifice for the person he loves, for God who is love (I John, IV, 16). And the sacrifice from love is discrete, it wants to remain unknown to others. This sacrifice for God is a fountain of indescribable gifts for each faster. Fasting is the abstinence of all urges, all senses, all physical impulses so that you can hear God, so you can feel God in your heart. This is fasting according to St. John Chrysostom: a process of purification of body and soul, so that God may dwell in our being. Fasting is the discipline that makes the life of Christ blossom within us. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Vasile Miron. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Miron, Vasile. ”The Christian-Orthodox teaching about fasting in St. John Chrysostom’s work.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 86-92. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.8

I. INTRODUCTION

The Christian Church, as a divine-humane institution created by our God Jesus Christ (The Apostles Deeds XX, 28; I Corinthians XII, 27-28; Ephesians V, 25-27) has strictly imposed its members a certain „rule of faith

and behaviour”[1], for the guidance of their moral life on the path of the true Christian living and of honoring the true God. „All Christians have been submitted to the same rules”[2] and cult institutions which helped them fulfill their moral-religious duties,

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II. Physical Fasting And Spiritual

Fasting

The Holy Fathers recommend the practice of the fasting as a form of repentance, as

an exercise of abstinence from the lusts of the body and as a way to cultivate virtues. „Fasting- says Saint John Chrysostomwearies the body out and puts an end to random acts, but makes the soul clearer, it gives it wings, it makes it climb heights, it makes it lighter”[4]. This great teacher of Orthodoxy and wonderful preacher has transmitted to us, in his famous preaching works, the most precious instructions and the most beautiful urges regarding the importance and the religious-moral importance of fasting, teaching us that, through abstinence from food and drink, is pursued, actually, the fruit or effect that this abstinence has on the soul, meaning, the crushing of lust and the calming of passions. „He who fasts is light and winged; he prays with an awakened mind, because fasting dries out the bad lusts, brings down God’s mercy and humbles the presumptuous soul”[5], says the holy father. That is why, bodily fasting must be unconditionally accompanied by spiritual fasting which consists is holding back from mean things, inappropriate gestures, thoughts and words. „It is proper that he who fasts, to hold his anger back, before anything else, to be taught, to be good and gentle, to have his heart crushed, to tear out from his mind the thought of bad lusts, to hold in front oh his eyes God’s awake eye and the rightful sit of judgment; to be above money, to be generous when he gives and to banish from his soul any wickedness towards his peer.”[6] Saint John Chrysostom is strict with regard to this. Once with the restraint from food and holding back from sin, he recommends the learning of the deeds worthy of repentance: the constant prayer, sincere repentance, the confession of sins, forgiving our peers and making acts of charity and mercy. He urges us that, during fasting, „ together withholding from foods, to hold back from deeds that hurt ourselves and try harder to make the spiritual acts. He

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towards God and towards their peers (Mathew XXII, 37-39; Romans VIII, 8-10). Because the human nature is made up of body and soul, and the purpose of the founding of the Church is the believers’ salvation, it cares for man’s soul and body, which is the dwelling of the soul. „If in a body lives a holy soul, it becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit”[3], claims a holy father. In order to establish harmony and a just equilibrium between the biological needs of the body and the spiritual needs of the soul, Church has established, on the grounds of the teaching of the Holy Scripture, the disciplinary routine of fasting, establishing, through the ruling of the sacred canons, its compulsory nature, the days and periods of fasting during the year and the harshness of the fasting. Fasting is an act of honoring God, a voluntary renunciation, during a certain period of time, of certain foods and drinks, out of love for God, in order to achieve the salvation of the soul. In the life and spirituality of our Orthodox Church, Christian fasting has a well-determined purpose, being a remedy for the body and a way towards the moral completion of the soul. Fasting is the spring of our spiritual life, because, through it, the killing weeds of passions are uprooted, and the scented flowers of the virtues are planted instead. Fasting represents a way to discipline the senses, because it stops the natural instincts and the passionate instincts of the body, which is the dwelling of the soul. For the soul, the bodily fasting is a therapeutic moral, because it relieves it and strengthens it against temptations, passions and all kinds of vices which are born from the over-saturation of the body.

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who fasts –he says- must be humble, quiet, gentle, contemptuous of the glory of life here. Just like he despised the body, it is righteous to despise the vain glory and to look only at The One Who researches hearts and guts (Ps 7,10); pray with all his might, to confess himself to God and, to help, according to his strength by doing deeds of charity”[7]. This is the complete fasting that transforms the man inside, brings him closer to God and helps him achieve salvation. Fasting does not save the ones who fast if they do not do it according to the Law, and through fasting-says the great Antioch father - I do not understand fasting the way most of people see it, but the true fasting, not only the abstinence from foods, but especially from sins”[8], because food fasting, separated by the spiritual fasting, is only a mere replacement of a dietary regime, having only a simple culinary meaning or a medical role. Fasting has a profoundly religious character. It becomes the instrument of spiritualization when it is fulfilled in its true meaning, like a process of purifying the body and the soul, by staying away from sins and doing good deeds. „Do you fast? Show that to me through deeds!” Then, the holy father enumerates each of them, saying:”Have mercy on the needy, make peace with your enemy, talk well about your friend, do not envy him, do not look at feminine beauty. Let not only the mouth fast, but the eyes too, and the ears, and legs and hands, all the limbs of our body. Let the hands fast, stopping from theft and gluttony. Let the legs fast, walking away from the paths that lead to unnatural theater shows. Let the eyes fast, being taught not to glance at beautiful cheeks, nor to tempt strange beauties. The eyes are made to look, but if they look at what is forbidden, unnatural, then the look defiles the fasting and ruins the salvation of the soul. Let the ears fast when they do not listen to gossip and whining. Let the mouth fast from words of shame and from

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reproach. What is the use of not us not eating birds and fish, but we bite and eat our brothers? He who gossips and speaks ill of his brother, is actually eating his brother’s flesh, biting from his peer’s body... . You did not sink your teeth into the flesh of your peer, but you sank gossip into his soul, you hurt him by talking ill of him and you provoked thousand and thousand of bad things to you, to him and to many others. Besides all these, you caused God’s glory to be evil spoken of. Just like when we do good deeds God’s name is being worshiped, His name is blunted and whined when we sin[9]. III. Fasting, Means of Practicing

Christian Virtues

The variety of foods must-therefore- be accompanied by a complete change of life, embodied in the practice of virtues and clearance of sinful thoughts and passionate lust, because „which is our achievement if we restrain ourselves from foods, but we do not chase away the evil habits of the soul”[10], asks himself the holy father. The Church does not impose an exaggerated fasting, that could affect the health of the body, because „The gentle Lord and human lover does not ask from us things that are beyond our power. Nor does he ask from us to restrain from food and fast just for the sake of fasting, nor to be hungry, but to separate ourselves from the worldly things and use the time for the spiritual ones”[11]. This is the true purpose of the fasting, „because this is why we restrain ourselves from food, to defeat the strength of the body, to make the horse easy to handle”[12]. Giving certain foods up willingly „make the wings of our soul lighter and make the burden of flesh easy for us, even if our body were as heavy as lead”[13]. The true fasting means staying away from meanness, restraining the tongue,

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IV. Introduction of Fasting and

Examples of True Fasters

Fasting is of divine origin and instituting,

being established by God even from the beginning of Creation, when He created man and ordered him not to taste „ from the tree of knowledge of good and evil”(Creation 2, 17). „This was nothing else but the command to fast - says Saint John Chrysostom – and if in Paradise, too, fasting was needed, then it is more necessary outside it. If, before man was spiritually hurt, fasting was a medicine for him, the more it is a medicine now, when his soul is hurt by sin. If before the war of lust, there was absolute need for fasting, the more it is necessary now when we are at war with the devil”[16]. That is why, all saints have endeavored themselves with the weapon of fasting and have conquered the tyranny of passions, removing the devilish temptations. The righteous men of The Old Testament have made a bridge of rising on the light edges of holiness out of the practice of fasting. „Moses could take the tablets of the law after he fasted for 40 days”, Elijah, „because he fasted, he escaped the tyranny of death”. Daniel, „the man of wishes, after fasting for several days, became worthy of that wonderful vision; he contained the wrath of the lions and made them as gentle as sheep”, and Ninevites, „using the fasting, changed the Lord’s decision”[17]. The true example of fasting is our Saviour Jesus Christ, who “after He fasted for forty days, He began to fight the devil, being an example to us all to arm ourselves with fasting; and after we were strengthened with fasting we go and fight the devil. Therefore, after you have known the purpose of fasting - says St. John Chrysostom - do not lose it because of idleness or be sad when fasting comes; but on the contrary, rejoice and be merry, according to blessed Paul: “If our man spoils from without, he is renewed from within day by day” (II Corinthians, IV, 16)”.[18] Timothy, the disciple of Saint Apostle Paul was restraining his body with fasting ,,until all his frolic was abated, until

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giving wrath up, uprooting hatred and removing envy and pride from our souls. „Knowing all of these-says the holy fatherlet us change our life, make ourselves righteous and caring about humbleness and virtue before escaping the danger that threatens us. And, for the time being, I want to entrust you with three commands, for you to fulfill during fasting: first one, do not speak ill of anyone; second one, hold no one enemy; the third one, cast away forever from your mouth the bad habit of cursing. Let us stay alert, care for ourselves, ask for advice in order to fulfill these commands. Let us try as hard as we can, to make each other aware, to right one another, so we do not leave with debts to the other world and to lose the salvation without death”[14]. The true fasting must rebuild man’s inner equilibrium, bring cleanliness to the heart, to make bad deeds right and to plant the peace and the quietness of the soul, the spiritual joy, the never ending patience, kindness, goodness and all the Christian virtues. These are the spiritual fruit of fasting. Fasting is an undefeated shield against temptations and prone to sin and, at the same time, „a food of the soul; and just how food fattens the body, fasting makes the soul stronger, lighter, it gives it wings, it makes it stand on a high ground, think about the things from above and to rise above the pleasures and sweetness of this life. And just like light ships cross the sees faster, and if they are overloaded they sink, fasting makes mind lighter and prepares it to easily cross the ocean of this life; it makes it to fall in love with the sky and the things in the sky, to think that the things in this life are nothing and to pass them with more indifference than they would pass by a shadow and a dream”[15].

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it made him obedient and entrusted him to the thought which rules over him. Let the body fall ill, saith he, but not the soul. Let the body be restrained, but let it not stop the soul from its path to heaven.”.[19] V. Spiritual Fruits Of Fasting

Fasting is the cure of healing and „the mother of the body’s well-being. If you do not believe my words – says the holy fatherask the doctors and they will clarify it to you. Doctors call fasting the mother of health and claim that gout,terrible headaches, apoplexy, dropsy, swellings, buboes and other countless diseases come from good living and from gluttony; they are bad brooks from a very bad river, which harms the well-being of the body and the purity of the soul.”[20] Fasting contains selfish passions, lights the mind, sanctifies the sanctification and changes the attitude and behaviour towards people and nature, understanding and appreciating them all in the light of God’s will and loving presence. „Fasting is the serenity of our souls, the jewelry of old age, the youngsters’ teacher and the teacher of all of those who live in bodily and spiritual purity. Fasting decorates, like a diadem, any age, men and women too”[21]. He who fasts does not get sad nor smooth his face, to show people he is fasting (Mathew 6, 16), but, to the world, he only shows the joy that comes from fasting, and this inner joy reflects on his serene face. „He who fasts is a spiritual myrrh and shows his good habit of the soul through his eyes and mouth, through all.”[22] says the holy father. Therefore, fasting sanctifies our conscience, word and act, but „not the fasting all by itself, prayer is also necessary; first of all, prayer”[23]. Fasting is not a purpose in itself, but a way, a way of cleansing of the passions and sins, of renewal and sanctification of life. Only this

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way, fasting becomes, suddenly, a support for repentance, a brook of health and of spiritual joy. The true faster combines harmoniously the two fundamental aspects of it: the bodily and spiritual aspects, meaning the restraint from foods and the restraint from sins, from passionate thinking, the contemptuous word and the bad deed, for „together with the restraining from foods, to show the restraint from the harmful ones”[24]. Conclusions Concluding the things mentioned previously, and justly understanding the true value of fasting, we are entitled to confess with all our conviction and the strength of faith that „we were not born to eat and drink and dress ourselves, but to run from sin..., practicing justice, being human lovers, being good and kind, showing mercy to our peers and practicing the virtue all”[25]. These guidelines resume the entire moral teaching about fasting so plastic and convincing of Saint John Chrysostom in his doctrinal and moral-educational work. This great teacher of Orthodoxy and lighter of the world rigorously respected the commandment of fasting, teaching his apprentices to practice it in its true meaning and showing through his personal example that this spiritual exercise is a means of rising on the steps of the Christian accomplishment. The Saviour, the Holy Apostles and all Holy Fathers have fasted and they teach us to fast as well, because fasting helps us ease the physical cravings and strengthen ourselves in the fight against sin. The physical fasting cannot be separated from the spiritual fasting, as the body cannot be separated from the soul. Therefore, following the fasting is a sacred duty of each believer, laid down by the Church in the IInd ecclesiastical commandment and holy canons formulated by the Holy Fathers, convened at the Holy Synods (assemblies).

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References [1]

[2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8]

[9]

Paul Oltramare, La religion et la vie de l’esprit [Religion And The Life Of Soul], Paris, 1925, p. 14. Ibidem, p. 18. Sf. Chiril al Ierusalimului [Saint Cyril of Jerusalem], Cateheza a IV-a, cap. 23, în vol. Cateheze, [The IVth Catechesis, chapter 23, in volume Catechesis] translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, in vol. Cateheze [Catechesis], Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R., Bucharest, 2003, p.61. Sf. Ioan Gură de Aur [Saint John Chrysostom], Omilia I la Facere [Homily I to Genesis], cap. II , in col. PSB, vol. 21, Omilii la Facere [Homilies to Genesis] , translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R. Bucharest, 1987, p. 117. Idem, Omilia a LVII-a la Matei [The LVIIth Homily to Mathew], cap. IV, in col. PSB, vol. 23, Scrieri [Writings], part III, Omilii la Matei [Homilies to Mathew], translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R., Bucharest, 1994, p. 667. Idem, Omilia a VIII la Facere [The VIIIth Homily to Genesis], cap. V, p. 104. Ibidem, p. 105. Idem, Omilii la statui, Omilia a III-a [Homilies to statues, The third Homily], translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R. , Bucharest, 2007, p. 66. Ibidem, p. 69-70.

Ibidem, Omilia a IV-a la statui [The IVth Homily to statues], p. 95. [11] Idem, Omilia a X-a la Facere [The Xth Homily to Genesis], cap. I, p. 116. [12] Idem, Omilia a VIII-a la Facere [The VIIIth Homily to Genesis], cap. V, p. 104. [13] Idem, Omilie la serafimi [Homily to seraphimes], cap. VI, in vol. Omilii la Ana [Homilies to Ana], Omilii la David şi Saul [Homilies at David and Saul], Omilii la serafimi [Homilies to Seraphimes], translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R., Bucharest, 2007, p. 199. [14] Idem, Omilia a III-a la statui [The third Homily to statues], p. 79. [15] Idem, Omilia I la Facere [The first Homily to Genesis], cap. IV, p. 35-36. [16] Idem, Problemele vieţii [Problems Of Life], translated into Romanian by Cristian Spătărelu and Daniela Filioreanu, Ed. Ecumeniţa, Galaţi, without the year of appearance, p. 349. [17] Idem, Omilia I la Facere [The first Homily to Genesis], p. 34. [18] Idem, Omilia I la Facere, [The first Homily to Genesis], p.35. [19] Idem, Omilii și Cuvântări [Homilies and Sermons], translated into Romanian by Bishop Irineu Slătineanu, in the volume Eastern Fathers, without publishing place and year, p. 100. [20] Idem, Despre post, Omilia a V-a: la profetul Iona, Daniel şi la cei trei tineri [About fasting, the fifth Homily: to the prophet Jonah, Daniel and at the three youngsters] translated into Romanian by Pr. Prof. D. Fecioru, in the Romanian Orthodox Church magazine, CXVI (1978), nr. 1-2, p. 84. [21] Idem, Omilia a II-a la Facere [The second Homily to Genesis], cap. I, p. 39. [22] Idem, Omilia a V-a la statui [The fifth Homily to statues], p. 174-175. [23] Idem, Omilia a LVII-a la Matei [The LVIIth Homily to Mathew], cap. IV, p. 667. [24] Idem, Puţul sau împărţirea de grâu [The pit or the sharing of grain], Ed. Buna Vestire, Bacău, 1995, p. 262. [25] Idem, Despre libertatea voinţei [About the freedom of will], in vol. Omilii la Ana, Omilii [10]

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Saint John Chrysostom has taught us to fast not only in body, but also in spirit, restraining ourselves from passions, sins and evil deeds and spending our time in prayer and in work of good deeds. This is the whole and true fasting which our Holy Orthodox Church urges us to practice, saying so in one of its songs in the Easter Fasting: “Let us fast, fast well received, well-liked by God, the true fasting is restraint from evil deeds, restraint of tongue, letting go of anger, moving away from urges, of slandering, lying and false testimony. Their absence is the true and well-received fasting”.[26]

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la David şi Saul ...,[Homilies to Ana, Homilies to David and Saul...] p. 230. [26] Triod, [Triodion], Ed. I.B.M.B.O.R., Bucharest, 1986, p. 112.

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Section 2

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Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

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The Contribution of Integral Transpersonal Psychology Approach to Religion and Spirituality

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Pier Luigi Lattuada, PhD Integral Transpersonal Institute Ubiquity University Milan Italy

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 19 April 2021 Received in revised form 20 May Accepted 30 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.9

The paper explores the different conceptions of religion and spirituality from both secular and religious, confessional and philosophical perspectives.

Keywords: religion; spirituality; integral transpersonal psychology; participatory dialogue; circuit of experience; transecognition;

We will compare the new visions of post-modernity with the psychological view before investigating the contribution that the different currents of the transpersonal and integral approach can provide in a dialogical perspective of transcendence and inclusion of the different positions. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

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Copyright © 2021 Pier Luigi Lattuada. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Lattuada, Pier Luigi. ”The Contribution of Integral Transpersonal Psychology Approach to Religion and Spirituality.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 95-112. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.9

I. INTRODUCTION

To relate religion to spirituality and psychology is to enter into an extraordinarily complex world, rich in vast literature that offers often contrasting points of view. I will choose to identify the most significant aspects concerning the relationship between spirituality, religion

and psychology. I will add some innovative ideas linked to the integral transpersonal vision ITV which, in my opinion, can provide important contributions for an approach to the sacred in the age of postmodernity. A famous cartoon depicts the sea in which a glass vase is immersed, and a goldfish, looking through the glass, meets

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the gaze of another fish looking out at it. The fish inside the vase is identified with religion while the one outside is identified with spirituality. But, delving into the literature on the subject, things do not appear so simple. II. what is Religion? A. Definitions

The Oxford Dictionary derives the word religion from Latin religare, to bind, to refer to all aspect of the human which reconnect with the Divine, the transcendent, that which is greater than us, “the source and goal of all human life and value” (Meissner, 1987, p. 119) But in De Natura Deorum, Cicero derives religio from relegere, as meaning to go through or aver again: “Qui omnia quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent diligenter pertractarent, et tamquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex relegendo, ut elegant’s ex eligendo”. (Cicero, 2014, 2, 28, 72,). On the one hand, therefore, religion seems to indicate the link between the human and the divine, the recognition of a higher power, and on the other hand to emphasise the aspect of caring. The religiens the one who takes care as opposed to the negligens. In this second hypothesis Religious means observant, conscientious, strict. More recently, scholars have started to understand religion as a way of life which: “has to do not only with the transcendent as it is “out there” but also as it is immanent in our bodily life, daily experiences, and practices” (Nelson 2009 p.4). Ninian Smart (1998, p. 26) expressed this concept in perhaps the broadest way

Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

up to the present-day identifying religion as a human activity including the following dimensions: [1] practical and ritual, including prayer, worship, and meditation [2] experiential and emotional [3] narrative or mythic [4] doctrinal and philosophical [5] ethical and legal [6] social and institutional [7] material, including buildings and other artifacts B. Post-modernism and religion In the disenchanted world of postmodernism, accomplice, the religious diversity to which globalisation has provided access, the sacred has been, to say with Ferrer and Sherman: “de-transcendentalized, relativized, contextualized, and diversified but, most fundamentally, assimilated to the linguistic expression”. (Ferrer, Sherman, 2008, P.6) The linguistic approach tends to neglect the religious experience itself to focus on verifiability or falsifiability of religious beliefs (analytic approach of Russel, Moore, Ayer or Austin) or on religious meanings and symbols (interpretative approach of Schleiermacher, Heidegger, Gadamer)). For the linguistic approach, therefore, religion is just a kind of writing. More recent postmodern approaches, however, criticise this view as rationalistic, and cognicentric. This is the case of, cross-cultural, hermeneutics, such as poststructuralism, deconstructionism, and postcolonial studies committed, to use the Ferrer and Sherman words: “to listen to the subjective experience of “the Other” (the marginal non subjects of modernity) and overcoming hierarchical dualism”. (Ferrer, Sherman, 2008, P.6).

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Wanting to answer the question of whether religions are more about transcendence or immanence we can say with Nelson:

“something that takes us beyond our current way of thinking, feeling, or acting”. (Nelson 2009 p.8). Think of humanistic psychology, which deals with the development of human potential, and even more so of transpersonal psychology, which works towards the full realisation of the Self and thus of the spiritual dimension of the individual. Every form of learning is creative transcendence into the new, every evolutionary act, Wilber teaches us, is transcendence and inclusion. (Wilber 2011). Nelson calls this form of transcendence, weak transcendence, “something that is beyond us but also within our reach” (Nelson 2009 p.8) and Nussbaum adds “transcendence ‘of an internal and human sort’ (Nussbaum, 1990, p. 379). It follows that human experience in itself is characterised by incessant moments of transcendence, every act of knowledge,

“defy comprehension, understanding, and control”. (Nelson 2009 p.8) It is a transcendence that contemplates the existence of divinity. This is known as theism, belief in a God who is free, transcending both us and the world, but who wishes to relate to us. As transcendent, God can become an object of devotion (Peters, 2007; Hay, Reich, & Utsch, 2006). John Piper’s arguments fully express through ten steps the theistic vision: [1] God is the only eternal being; therefore, everything and everyone else is dependent on, and less valuable than, him. [2] God has been eternally and supremely joyful in the fellowship of the Trinity, so he has no deficiency that would prompt him to create the world. [3] God created human beings in his own image so that his glory might be displayed by being known and enjoyed by them. [4] Christ came into the world and accomplished his work so that all who receive Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and Treasure would be justified and fitted to know and enjoy God forever. [5] The enjoyment of God above all else is the deepest way that God’s glory is reflected to, and terminates on, God. [6] Nevertheless, God has constituted us so that our enjoyment of him overflows in visible acts of love to others. [7] The only God-glorifying love and joy is rooted in the true knowledge of God. [8] Therefore, the right knowledge of

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“While some religions may emphasize one over the other, all the great religious traditions encompass both”. (cf. ShahKazemi, 2002, 2006, p. 69; al- ‘Arabi, 1980, pp. 72) in (Nelson 2009 p.8). Reflecting on immanence and transcendence we can realise that we are faced with a problem of boundaries. Where does transcendence begin? Where does immanence ends? It is at this point that the complexity of the religious question becomes apparent and comes to involve various fields including philosophy, spirituality and psychology. Indeed, we all encounter elements of transcendence in our lives whenever we do:

every new activity is, in some way, a transcendent act even if it does not require significant changes in our lifestyle. Nelson then proposes what he calls strong transcendence which,

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[9]

[10]

[11]

God and his ways is the servant of Godglorifying joy in him and love for people. Therefore, healthy biblical doctrine should not be marginalized or minimized, but rather embraced and cherished as the basis for building friendships and churches. And, thus, the church should become that for which it was created, namely, the pillar and buttress of truth, joy, and love in order to display the glory of God and the supremacy of Christ in all things. (Piper 2007, p.14) This view is balanced by non-theistic religions, such as Buddhism, which shift the emphasis to spirituality. III. What is Spirituality?

A. Definitions

The term spirituality has spread in recent decades, taking on different meanings depending on the context in which it is used, whether religious, secular, philosophical, psychological, etc. The Treccani dictionary defines it as: “the set of elements that characterise ways of living and experiencing spiritual realities, both with regard to religious forms of life and with reference to philosophical, literary and similar movements”. (Treccani 2012). Nowadays the term spirituality typically indicates: “the experiential and personal side of our relationship to the transcendent or sacred”. (cf. Hill et al., 2000; Emmons & Crumpler, 1999) in (Nelson 2009 p.8). While secularists tend to contrast spirituality with religion seen: “as the organizational structures, practices, and beliefs of a religious group” (Zinnbauer et al., 1999) in (Nelson 2009 p.8), religious people tend to

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“prefer definitions that draw less of a strict division between religion and spirituality. In their eyes, spirituality is the living reality of religion as experienced by an adherent of the tradition.” (Nelson 2009 p.8). Roof (1999, p. 35) by his side consider spirituality involving four aspects: • a source of values and ultimate meaning or purpose beyond the self, including a sense of mystery and selftranscendence, • a way of understanding, • inner awareness, • personal integration (cf. Tillich, 1958; Becker, 2001) in Nelson p.8) This means spirituality should be understood as a state of being, a way of feeling, thinking, acting, involving, the sacred, the mystery and: “a search for higher values, inner freedom, and things that give life meaning”. (Shannon, 2000, p. 47) Nelson (Nelson 2009) reports several religious conceptions of spirituality he categorizes in thick and thin. Thick definitions usually are linked with religious systems of practices and beliefs while thin definition focus more “on natural experiences, personal values, or connectedness” (Zaehner, 1961; Walzer, 1994; Sheldrake, 1998, p. 56; e.g., Miller, 1999; Emmons, 1999, p. 92; Piedmont, 1999). The variety of definitions and the complexity of views on spirituality and religion call for caution in highlighting any one aspect over the others. At the same time, they underline the difficulty of dealing with the subject with a ‘scientific’ attitude.

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XIII. IV. Psychological views of religion

and SPIRITUALITY

A. Definitions

“Before psychology entered research laboratories many of the founders of American psychology had interests in religion” (Spilka, 1987), and “were interested in applying scientific principles to its study. This included the two main founders of the field: William James (1842-1910) at Harvard and G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924) at Clark University”. (Nelson 2009 p.18). William James himself, one of the founders of American psychology later in his career, spent his time researching on philosophical and religious topics, including the study of psychic phenomena. In 1902 he published the famous The Varieties of Religious Experience, which remains one of the great classics of psychological and religious literature. In his vision, psychic activity can be traced back to a ‘stream of consciousness’, an expression of the interaction between organism and environment. Hall instead, influenced by psychoanalytic principles argued that Christian Religion

Even Fromm labeled as a religion “any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion” (1950, p. 21). He proposes to reject all authoritarian religion: “accept a humanistic religion centered around man and his strength in which God is understood only as a symbol of human power, what man potentially is or ought to become “. (1950, p. 37), in (Nelson 2009 p.18). Also, Maslow the founder of Humanistic psychology promoted atheism (Taylor, 1999, p. 269). while he believed that religion induces people to satisfy lower needs. (Nelson 2009 p.18). Even though later in his life he acknowledged that may help people in building genuine values. He called peak experiences the different forms of ecstatic and transcending states including the religious and mystical experiences. In his understanding peak experiences are just part of human nature and can be explained naturalistically without any theological baggage or interference (1970, p. 164). As Nelson reports: “He felt that religion should play no role in the understanding of these states because the peak state is the core of all religious experiences, he believed that all religions are in essence the same and apparent differences can be safely ignored, a position that is questionable from a modern religious

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The difficulty of dealing with consciousness in scientific terms, the socalled difficult problem, in addition to the successes that science has achieved in the study of nature, is probably at the origin of the direction that modern psychology has taken. Despite the fact that the term psychology originally from the Greek words psyche or soul, and logos or study mainstream psychology mostly became the study of the mind and of the behaviour.

was “a purely psychological projection” (Hall, 1924, p. 422). In Freud’s vision, in fact, religion fosters illusion and prevents people from being in touch with reality.

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studies perspective” (Nelson 2009 p.18). Following this line of thought, he later came to hypothesise a psychological approach capable of going beyond the personal and tapping into the higher qualities of the human being and his potential for self-actualisation. Together with a small group of scholars such as Stan Grof, Anthony Sutich, Jim Fadiman, Miles Vich, and Sonja Margulies, worked to found transpersonal psychology: the so-called fourth force of psychology. Transpersonal psychology by studying with scientific accuracy the state of consciousness and mystical and transcendent experiences offered a great contribution to the understanding relationship between religion, spirituality, and psychology (Sutich, 1969; Tart, 1975, 1992, Shapiro & Walsh, 1984; Grof, 1985). Therefore, the challenge of the difficult problem of consciousness is finally taken up by the transpersonal and integral psychological approach, which aims to provide maps and methods for its investigation. B. Integral Turn

I’m spiritual but not religious. Wilber reminds us how polls demonstrate that more than 20% of Americans identify overall with that phrase. (Wilber 2017 p.9) Besides what scholars could argue, the spirit of times, as Jung would (Jung 1969b) say show us that. “only 11 percent of northern Europe, for example, is churched.” (Wilber 2017 p.9). Also, we should take in account that most of the great religious traditions are about three thousand years old and: At the time that the major texts in all of these Great Traditions were first written, people really did think the earth was flat

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and was circled by the sun; slavery was taken to be the natural state of affairs, the way things were supposed to be (and this was challenged by none of the traditions); women were second-class citizens, if even that; atoms and molecules were unknown; DNA was unheard of; and evolution crossed nobody’s mind.” (Wilber 2017 p.9). Nevertheless, we cannot deny that the ancient sages and mystics of the various traditions were able to reach the true nature of the human condition, were able to grasp the essence of ultimate reality without any other means than the technologies of the sacred, as Grof defines them. Wilber’s integral vision proposes a way out of this apparent vicious circle in which spirituality and religion chase each other, differentiating, contrasting and overlapping without a break. He suggests the obvious: “Most of these traditions divided their teachings into two broad areas, often called exoteric and esoteric. (Wilber 2017 p.9). The exoteric has come to distinguish more the organised religions available to the masses while the esoteric dimension has remained the preserve of mystics and spiritual seekers of ultimate reality. In this way the contradiction shifts from the distinction between the thing, spirituality or religion, to a difference of modes: inner, integral contemplative experience or outer cognitive, ceremonial, prescriptive experience, and may be resolved in clarity and respect for specific areas of intervention. From one side the “outer teaching,” organized in tales, rituals and myth, precepts, rules, and beliefs to be followed in order to get eternal salvation in heaven. From the other side the mastery of inner experience through meditation, contemplation, fasting, isolation, breathing,

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“Human beings have two major types of development available to them: Growing Up and Waking Up.” (Wilber 2017, p. 17). While the waking up process is linked to the inner experience of the meditative order and therefore, we could say, to the state of consciousness that the individual is able to draw on, the growing up process is linked to the stage of development of the subject having the experience. Going back to the spirit of time seems that postmodern discoveries would have a lot to say about the relationship between states of meditation and stages of development. Starting to read Spirituality both, as a transpersonal stage of development beyond the ego which one may reach, and as a participatory dialogue with the undetermined mystery. First of all, we can note that the stages of trans-rational thinking proposed by transpersonal and integral psychology make it possible to overcome the cognicentric and rationalist vision of the dominant view that has relegated the experiences of Waking Up and ultimate Truth to the forgotten peripheries of humanity’s cultural heritage. The dual mind of current rationalistic vision often confuses the peak experiences

and the deep spirituality with: “the outer, exoteric, childish, mythic narratives that constitute probably 90 percent of the world’s religions as presently taught.” (Wilber 2017, p. 21). The postmodern, trans-rational vision offers maps and models to differentiate prepersonal mythological contents from transpersonal trans-rational experiences. To do this, however, it will be necessary for the great religions and “Waking Up schools” founded on millenary scriptures or teachings to agree to include these new achievements as crucial components of their teachings. The spirit of the time of postmodernity is bringing to humanity “hidden maps”, “so hard to spot that they weren’t discovered until around one hundred years ago.” (Wilber 2017, p. 22). Integral and Transpersonal vision thanks to Wilber and scholars of the new paradigm invite great world traditions for an update by transcending and including their teachings with new psychospiritual achievements. Let’s see how Wilber put it: “...it was believed that the original forms of spiritual presentation were somehow cut in stone, never to be changed or improved on again, and not to believe in their original forms was the equivalent of heresy, blasphemy, and horrid disbelief. Thus, the effects of Spirit-in-action were listened to in virtually every other area of human activity—from science to morals to medicine to economics—except in religion and spirituality itself, perhaps history’s greatest (and saddest) irony.” (Wilber 2017, p. 22). C. The participatory turn

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The Ferrer participatory vision offers an epistemological approachable to evaluate

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dancing and so. This distinction offers the possibility to consider what is clear to many traditions, namely the existence of two categories of truth: the relative and ultimate truth. While the outer teachings of the great traditions based on beliefs can be profoundly different, even contradictory, the inner-order teachings based on ultimate reality present striking similarities and almost unanimous agreement. Wilber’s integral view introduces at this point another level of contradiction based on the distinction between two processes he calls waking up and growing up.

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and integrate both etic and emic, insider and outsider, rational and trans-rational, naturalistic and supernaturalistic: ‘ “through validity standards of both dominant and marginal Western and nonWestern epistemologies in whatever measure may be appropriate according to the context of the inquiry and the type of knowledge claims” (Ferrer, Sherman, 2008 p.10.) In order to understand the re-evaluation of emic perspective we can consider the Rothenberg’ Spiritual Inquiry: “To interpret spiritual approaches through categories like “data,” “evidence,” “verification,” “method,” ” confirmation,” and “intersubjectivity” may be to enthrone these categories as somehow that hallmarks of knowledge as such, even if the categories are explained in meaning from their current western usage. But might not a profound encounter with practices of spiritual inquiry lead to considering carefully the meaning of other comparable categories (e.g. dhyana, vichara, theoria, gnosis, or contemplation) and perhaps to developing understanding of inquiry in which such spiritual categories of current western epistemology are adequate for interpreting spiritual approaches is to prejudge the results of such an encounter, which might well lead to significant changes in these categories” (Rothenberg 2009 17576). Also, Ferrer emphasises the sacred immanence by underlining the feminist critics to the “metaphysics of presence” undervaluing the sacred immanence and the spiritual power of nature and its forces. This way we can give back a sense of sacredness to the sensuality of the body and to everyday life. Moving forward on re-sacralization of the world some postmodern thinkers such as Habermas, (Habermas 2003) after the linguistic turn that shifted the focus from God to the word, sacralised the language

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giving way, we could say, to the passage from God as a word to the World as God. In summary, the participatory vision proposed by Ferrer tends to offer a solution that goes beyond both the linguistification of the sacred and the acritical dogmatic fideism. In order to get the essence of the participatory vision proposal, we can let Ferrer speak: we are advancing the admittedly bold hypothesis that religious worlds and phenomena, such as the kabbalistic four realms, the various Buddhist cosmologies, or Teresa’s seven mansions, come into existence out of a process of participatory cocreation between human multidimensional cognition and the generative force of life and/or the spirit. (Ferrer. Sherman 2008 p. 36) V. Biotransenergetics: Integral Transpersonal turn A. To synthesise

To synthesise the classical psychological view of religion goes from the psychoanalytical refusal as illusion and psychological projection, to object of devotion and lower needs satisfaction, to the system to building genuine values. The transpersonal approach sees the religious experiences linked both, with states of consciousness and the self-actualization process and tends to recognize a common core underlaying the cultural differences of the multiple religious forms. The Wilber integral theory, perhaps the more complete and also criticized approach to human development, offer to the study of religious and spiritual traditions a model of states of consciousness and stages of thinking in order to favor what he calls the waking up and the growing up of human consciousness.

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B. The participatory dialogue of Self

The first tiling we should ask ourselves in order to investigate religion and spirituality should be: what is the object of our research? Not religion per se, not spirituality per se, but the spiritual and the religious experience. The object of our search becomes in this way the subject of experience itself, the Self we might say. The BTE model understands the Self to be the totality of being, the unifying archetype of the psyche which I will call Psyche to distinguish it from its reduction to mind by certain psychology. The experience of the Self lias some peculiar characteristics: it is always the experience of the Self in the world and always lias two sides: Tiling ad Mode. Experience is therefore a circuit, a dynamic and interconnected participatory dialogue. Moreover, it is always characterised by experience, the Tiling itself and our way of interpreting it, the hermeneutic. Let us, therefore, look in the shirt at the elements involved: - participatory dialogue Self/world - Circuit of experience: Tiling itself - Hermeneutics: Mode If everything is, both a Tiling and a Mode, the Self also has a Tiling side and a Mode side.

In order to help to understand participatory dialogue, I propose the metaphor of the square and the circle. The square represents the phenomenon, the Tiling, the substance, the behaviour, the object, the form, in one word the content of the SelfPsyche: the circle represents the noumenon, the Mode, the subject, the container, the emptiness, the essence of the Self Psyche. The circle represents the experience, the state of consciousness, the square represents the hermeneutics, the stage of thinking which organize the experience.

Therefore, our object of inquiry should be the participatory dialogue Subject/ Object. The various wisdom traditions of humanity gave different names to this Unity (square/circle), which are all ascribable to one: Self /Psyche} To be more precise for the Integral Transpersonal Vision (ITV) of BTE the field of investigation we would say is the human experience of Psyche (Self) in its participatory dialogue with the world. C. The basic Model ofTranse: a ternary unity

In order to proceed ITV epistemology, suggest the model of the Circuit of Experience, to define human experience in the world of Self through three dynamic and interconnected subsystems: thinking (elaborating), acting (behaving) a n d feeling (sentient functions).

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Ferrer offers his participatory view in order to free religion and spirituality to the western cognicentric epistemology. On my part, I will propose an integral transpersonal approach, in which epistemology stands at the basis of Biotransenergetics (BTE), the psychotherapeutic methodology I developed over the last four decades. (Lattuada 2013).

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to the Ternary Circuit of Experience.

This conception both offers a unitary gaze that grasps the dynamism of the individual Psyche and its interconnection with all the other things in the world (Transpersonal Psyche) and broad the context by introducing the construct of the Field. We can therefore reiterate the concept of the human experience of the world as the participatory dialogue of Psyche, unfolded by the relationship between the I and the World, but we should add the third element; the field. A part of me, a part of you, a part of the field, without these three components there is no experience. The simple event is therefore characterized by a portion of I, a portion of the world and the field defined by their relationship. BTE attributed the term Transe to this ternary unit of experience (Lattuada 2013). Just as from the biological point of view we are made up of cells, from the physical point of view, by particles and waves, from the psychic point of view we are made up of ternary processes: Transe. The concept of Transe underlines an approach that deals with psychodynamic processes crossed by Psyche, which is not confined within the individual, but belongs

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The Basic Model of Transe

D. Hermeneutics: the Mode

The experience itself, is the result of the participatory dialogue between myself and the world in a field, therefore, enactive, nondual, interconnected; hermeneutics. By thinking we create concepts about the experience, thus we grasp regularities according to the aspects we want to highlight. Photographing a territory and recognising its evolutionary sequence does not change the territory, which remains, “non-dual”, dynamic and interconnected, but offers a map to experience it in a better way. Focusing on hermeneutics, therefore, means take into consideration the modes of thinking. Among his many merits, Ken Wilber has offered to the integral and transpersonal community the holarchy vision first expressed so clearly and manifestly to the Western world by Plotinus. The Holarchic vision, from an evolutionary point of view, according to Plotinus states that at each stage of Ascent, the lower has

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between states of consciousness and stages of thinking once again, the metaphor of the square and the circle comes to our aid. As we already have seen, the circle stands for experience and the square for hermeneutics. I would propose the same distinction between Spirituality and Religion. Spirituality stands for experience (circle) and Religion for the hermeneutics (square). Human being universally may live or not spiritual experiences and may organize it or not into religious framework culturally determined. This way, make no sense to divide Spirituality from Religion. Spiritual experience is depending of the state of consciousness and religious beliefs are depending on stages of thinking; both are interdependent and inseparable; both are multiple and only should be studied answering to the “how” and “where” question. E. Make some example

Many Christian children, like I was, believed in the child Jesus in their childhood and can recall the fascination of the experience of meeting the toys he brought on Christmas morning. Thanks to a cultural belief we had a profound spiritual experience. Healthy for that “where” and in that “how”: our state of consciousness, we might say was instinctive and our stage of thinking mythological. To cling to the belief in the child Jesus in adulthood in order not to lose the fascination of the lived spiritual experience would be dogmatic and regressive. Shaman drumming calls the spirits and heal the community, to be healed one needs to share the same beliefs. Out of contest of tribal beliefs (were) the “how”, shamanic state of consciousness, need to

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to be “embraced” and “permeated,” by the higher and that Descent and embrace occur with each stage of Ascent and development. (Plotinus, 2018). For both Wilber and ITV, we are unconscious of any of the levels or potentials that are right now available above our own level of development. As the acorn is not yet an oak one, following her/his process of development, could have to pass through the disease. Although there are several critics of holarchical view, think of Ferrer’s participatory view (Ferrer 2017b) or of the meta-phenomenological approach by Capriles (Capriles, 2020), I believe that Wilber’s model offers a solid epistemological basis to understand spiritual development like no other. I refer to the maps of states of consciousness (from instinctive to rational, to intuitive, to non-dual) and of stages of thinking (from archaic to magic, to mythological, to rational, to subtle, causal and non-dual). (Wilber 2011) In Wilber description, we may recognise a synthesis of several maps both from post-modern thinkers such as Tart (Tart 1975), Grof (Grof, 1985) or spiral dynamics theorist, (Back, Cowan 1996), and from ancient tradition such as Vedanta, Buddhist, Neo-Platonic. Some tend to divide transpersonal theorists into ascenders and descenders, some identified as advocating a hierarchical structural paradigm (Wilber, 2011), others a dynamic dialectical paradigm (Grof, 1985) or an enactive2 paradigm (Ferrer, 2017). My personal vision is that by fully understanding the holarchic vision we may find that it does not contradict any enactive or non-dual vision and that it offers the background to transcend and include the fictitious separation between ascenders and descenders. In order to understand the relationship

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be reframed following the changed cultural value and beliefs. In name of God following its beliefs Inquisition burned thousands of people having spiritual experiences which didn’t fits with its beliefs. Some religious terrorists fight against others believers expecting to get a reward in heaven. A wise human being merged into the consciousness of unity through contemplation sees the forms of the world as an illusion indicating the essence, beyond them: this world is Brahman alone (Rockwell Lanman,1905). Different “how” and different “where “completely change the Mode of “who”, the subject of the experience (thinking-feelingacting) related to the Things, Religion and Spirituality. F. Summarizing 1) Participatory dialogue Self/world

The ITV presented here is ternary: the part, the whole and the part-whole are three different aspects of any human experienced which can be experienced differently. 2) Circuit of experience: Thing itself The human being experiences the world through an interconnected circuit of thinking-acting-feeling. Content of the experience is multiple and may happen on several levels going from physical to energetical, emotional mental, and spiritual. 3) Hermeneutics: mode Any content, the thing (state) itself has a mode. The mode of the “who”, the subject is depending on “how” (stage) we think and “where “we are (the field). G. Make the two become one

There is a “where” and a “how” for

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anything and both reside at the extreme border, beyond the paradox, then the two become one. The “were “question offers the chance to shift from dualism either-or (no wholeness only part/wholeness, no objectifiable pregiven only undetermined mystery, no Religion only Spirituality, and so) to the both/and attitude. To be aware that anything you can speak about is not just a Thing but also a Mode, its own way to be that Thing. The “how” question helps us to find the way to keep the Thing and the Mode together, to make the two one. To simplify we may divide states of consciousness and stages of thinking into three categories: pre-personal, personal and transpersonal or pre-rational, rational and trans-rational. Having in mind that Spirituality stands for experience and Religion for the hermeneutics we may trace an holarchic map of the “how” and the “where”. The more my state of consciousness goes from pre personal (kid) to transpersonal (wise), the more I disidentify from cultural ethnocentric contents and I get a worldcentric universal vision. Once it is understood the participatory dialogue as ternary and not dual, we don’t need to read the wise as better of the kids or more evolute, they are simply two different “how” and “where” on the life span development of the “who”, te subject. We don’t need any more to compare religious or spiritual experiences or to read it according to either an holarchic or enactive order, or either to a linguistic or theistic, emic or etic vision. The multiple varieties of the experiences of the Self would be seen, according to the different state of consciousness or stage of thinking, either as holarchic, or participatory,

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H. From cognition to Transe-cognition

ITV of BTE suggests in order to understand the holarchic participatory view to work alongside the cognition and metacognition with transe-cognition. While Cognition teaches, we would say, metacognition teaches how to learn, Transecognition teaches to realize that everything is teaching, here and now. It teaches us to grasp the patterns and regularities of the universe that are revealed under our eyes at every moment, here and now. While cognition gets knowledge, metacognition reflects on knowledge, Transecognition is aware of knowledge. I call Transe-cognition the set of Second Attention, Further Mode and Integral Transpersonal Thinking (Lattuada, 2018). I. Second Attention Epistemology (SAE)

The SAE intends to suggest an approach to the inner experience centered on the subject of experience and on the reliability of its statements. (Hess, Lattuada, 2015). Postulates the possibility of distinguishing the first attention, tool of the dual mind, from a Second Attention, provided by

contemplation, aware observation, and disidentification. The first attention gets tilings and processes, the Second Attention gets transe, i.e., the basic structures at various levels of meaning, the patterns connecting tilings and processes. Tilings and processes appear on the stage, the connecting patterns and the deeper levels of meaning are on backstage. By activating the Second Attention, through contemplation it will be possible to access the insight that reveals the interconnected network underlying the ordinary reality and opens us to the deeper meaning. SAE describes a way of knowing able of considering the variety of states of consciousness and the interconnection between the I and the world in a, psychologically significant, field. J. Further Mode

The Second Attention through the Further Mode, that is, by grasping in addition to what is on the stage also what lie on the backstage, the within and the without, provides us with the opportunity for a leap of consciousness. It indicates a new frontier in attention and in the Further Mode, the tool to investigate it. It outlines a method of investigation and validation based on the inseparable participatory dialogue between the individual and the environment, which has its roots in the Organismic Self.

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Fig. 1-4 The Further Mode

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or whatever. It is a matter of personal epistemology, useful for supporting the different theories, beliefs, or orient the different methodological approaches, but irrelevant to the mastery of the experience of the Self. It belongs, so to speak, to the dual world of knowledge and not to the unitive world of awareness. The challenge shift from linear distinction to the ability in getting the variety of the structures (modes) underlying the processes (tilings) and to grasp the further level unifying them.

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K. Integral Transpersonal Thinking (ITT)

I mean by ITT (Lattuada, 20118) a way of organizing the experience of the world through contemplation, the result of a process of aware observing oneself, feelingthinking-acting. ITT arises from the synergistic use of some basic psychic functions, namely: observation, proprioception, exteroception, attention, and consciousness. The mastery of observation leads to the realization of the contemplation, aware observation of our identifications. The mastery of proprioception, that is of what we feel inside, is achieved through inner listening. The mastery of external perception, that is, of the experience of the world, occurs through contemplation and listening to the field, the surrounding environment. The mastery of attention and consciousness through intent, firmness and contemplation. Contemplation of events (“what”, the phenomenon on the stage), awareness, beyond appearances (backstage), attention here and now, expansion of the field of consciousness both within and without, around oneself (depth, breadth and height). Finally, Transe-cognition gets, transcending and including cognition and metacognition, the differences among tilings and modes i.e., by recognizing the variety of the spiritual and religious forms. It transcends and include any pregiven spiritual ultimate referent into the mystery without negating it, aware that the place of the pregiven forms is a different place from that of the mystery. It suggests our ordinary gaze (first attention) makes appearances come on stage and leaves its complementary behind the scenes.

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Transe-cognition gets the unity of the process that includes stage and backstage. This does not mean that everything is the same, Things could be the same or different but there are equalities or differences that reside in the Mode. The difference between the several religious forms, mystery and objective forms resides in different “where” of the Psyche, in different “how” of the self, in a further place where the “who” the subject, grasp both the Mode and the Thing together. Bibliography Back, Don and Christopher Cowan. Spiral dynamics, mastering Values, Leadership and Changes, Blackwell, Oxford, 1996. [2] Becker, K. Unlikely companions: C. G. Jung on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola: An exposition and critique based on Jung’s lectures and writings. Leominster, UK, 2001. [3] Becker, P. E., & Dhingra, P. H., Religious involvement and volunteering: Implications for civil society. Sociology of Religion, 62, 315-335, 2001. [4] Cicero M.T., The Complete Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Delphi Classics, 2014. [5] Emmons, R. A., The psychology of ultimate concerns: Motivation and spirituality in personality. New York: Guilford Press, 1999. [6] Ferrer J.N., Sherman J.H, The participatory turns, spirituality, mysticism, religious studies, State of New York University press, Albany. [7] Fromm, E., Psychoanalysis and religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950. [8] Fromm, E., The dogma of Christ and other essays on religion, psychology and culture. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. [9] Fromm, G. H., Neurophysiological speculations on Zen enlightenment. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 13, 163-170, 1992. [10] Gadamer H.G., Philosophical Hermeneutics, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997. [1]

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ed.). W. Dell, & C. Baynes, Trans. London: Routledge, 2001. [24] Jung, C. G., The symbolic life: Miscellaneous writings (R. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 18). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1953. [25] Jung, C. G., Mysterium coniunctionis: An inquiry into the separation and synthesis of psychic opposites in alchemy (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 14). New York: Pantheon Books, 1963. [26] Jung, C. G., “The spiritual problem of modern man.” In R. C. Hull (Trans.), Civilization in transition (2nd ed., pp. 7494). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964 [27] Jung, C. G., Symbols of transformation (2nd ed., R. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 5). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1967. [28] Jung, C. G., Alchemical studies (R. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 13). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967b. [29] Jung, C. G., Two essays on analytical psychology (G. Adler, & R. F. C. Hull, Ed. & Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 7). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967c. [30] Jung, C. G., Psychology and alchemy (R. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 12), 1968. [31] Jung, C. G., The archetypes and the collective unconscious (2nd ed., R. Hull, Trans.). (Collected works, Volume 9a). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969. [32] Jung, C. G., Psychology and religion: West and east (2nd ed., R. Hull, Trans.) (Collected works, Volume 11). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969b. [33] Jung, C. G., Synchronicity: An acausal connecting principle (2nd ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973 [34] Jung, C. G, Exercitia spiritualia of St. Ignatius of Loyola: Notes on Lectures. Spring, 1977, 183-200. [35] Lattuada P.L., Beyond the Mind, ITI ed. ebook, Milano, 2012. [36] Lattuada P.L., Biotransenergetics: ITI ed.

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Grof, S., Beyond the brain: Birth, death, and transcendence in psychotherapy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1985. [12] Grof, S., “Implications of modern consciousness research for psychology: Holotropic Experiences and their healing and heuristic potential.” The Humanistic Psychologist, 37(2/3), 50-83, 2003 [13] Hall, G. S., Jesus the Christ in the light of psychology. New York: D. Appleton, 1923. [14] Hall, G. S., Life and confessions of a psychologist. New York: D. Appleton, 1924 [15] Hall, T. A., Too deep for words: Rediscovering Lectio Divina. New York: Paulist Press, 1988. [16] Hall, T. A, Spiritual effects of childhood sexual abuse in adult Christian women. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 23, 129134., 1995. [17] Hall, T. W., & Brokaw, B. F. The relationship of spiritual maturity to level of object relations development and God image. Pastoral Psychology, 43, 373-391, 1995. [18] Hall, T. W., Brokaw, B. F., Edwards, K. J., & Pike, P. L., An empirical exploration of psychoanalysis and religion: Spiritual maturity and object relations development. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37, 303-313, 1998. [19] Hay, D., Reich, K. H., & Utsch, M., Spiritual development: Intersections and divergence with religious development. In E. Roehlkepartain, P. King, L. Wagener, & P. Benson (Eds.), The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence (pp. 46-59). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. [20] Habermas J., Philosophy in a time of terror: dialogues with Jurgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida (interviewed by] Giovanna Borradori, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2003 [21] Heidegger M., Introduction to Phenomenological Research, Indiana University Press Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2005. [22] Hoyt S.F., The Etymology of Religion, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1912, Vol. 32, No. 2 (1912), pp. 126-129, Published by: American Oriental Society. [23] Jung, C., Modern man in search of a soul (2nd [11]

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ebook, Milano, 2013 Lattuada P.L., Transpersonal Revolution? In McMullin, Hess & Boucouvalas (Eds.) Metamorphosis through conscious living. A transpersonal perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. [38] Lattuada P.L. “Second Attention Epistemology.” Integral Transpersonal Journal, 0, 7-52, 2010. [39] Lattuada P.L., “Second attention epistemology: Truth and reality.” Integral Transpersonal Journal, 1, 13-27.,20111. [40] Lattuada P.L., “Second attention epistemology: Integral process evaluation grid (III part).” Integral Transpersonal Journal, 2, 13-27, 2012. [41] Hess R. U., Lattuada P.L., “Towards an Organismic- Dynamic Epistemology and Research Methodology: The Further Mode of Knowing of Inner Experiences of States of Consciousness. Implications from Second Attention Epistemology and Embodied Phenomenology Research Methodology.” Integral Transpersonal Journal, 7, 12-49, 2015[42] Lattuada P.L., “Transpersonal Psychology as a Science,” Integral Transpersonal Journal, 11, 26-51, 2018. [43] Lattuada P.L., “Transpersonal Psychology as a Science” part. 2, International Journal of Psychotherapy, Volume 23, Number 2, July 2019, pp. 69-83. [44] Calabrese G., Rotonda G., Lattuada P.L., “The Meaning of an Initiation Ritual in a Psychotherapy Training Course.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 51, 2019 pp. 4970. [45] Lattuada P.L., “Integral Transpersonal Inquiry,” Integral Transpersonal Journal 15, 13-38, 2020. [46] Maslow, A. H., Religions, values, and peakexperiences. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1964 [47] Maslow, A. H., “The further reaches of human nature.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1, 1-9, 1969. [48] Maslow, A. H., Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row, 1970. [37]

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Maslow, A. H., Toward a psychology of being (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999. [50] May, G., Will and spirit. New York: HarperSan Francisco, 1982. [51] May, G., Addiction and grace. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. [52] May, G., Care of mind, care of spirit. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. [53] May, G., The dark night of the soul: A psychiatrist explores the connection between darkness and spiritual growth. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004. [54] Meissner, W. W., Psychoanalysis and religious experience. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984. [55] Meissner, W. W., Life and faith: Psychology perspectives on religious experiences, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1987 [56] Nelson, J. M, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, 2009 [57] Peters, T., “The Trinity in and beyond time.” In R. J. Russell, N. Murphy, & C. J. Isham (Eds.), Quantum cosmology and the laws of nature: Scientific perspectives on divine action (2nd ed., pp. 263-289). Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory, 1996. [58] Peters, T., “Resurrection of the very Embodied soul.” In R. Russell, N. Murphy, T. Meyering, & M. Arbib (Eds.), Neuroscience and the person: Scientific perspectives on divine action (pp. 304-325). Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory, 2002. [59] Peters, T., Models of God. Philosophia, 35, 273-288, 2002. [60] Pipers J, Taylor J., The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, by Desiring God Ministries, Crossway Books publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 2007. [61] Plotinus, The Enneads, University Printing House, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2018 [62] Rockwell Lanman C., Atharva Veda Samhita by Atharvan and Angirasa, Harward Universty Cambridge Massachussets, 1905. [63] Roof, W. C., “Multiple religious switching: [49]

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Smart, N., Understanding religious experience. In S. T. Katz (Ed.), Mysticism and philosophical analysis (pp. 10-21). New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. [77] Smart, N., Dimensions of the sacred: An anatomy of the world’s beliefs. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1996. [78] Smart, N., The world’s religions (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. [79] Smart, N.. Worldviews: Crosscultural explorations of human beliefs (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. [80] Spilka, B., Spiritual issues: Do they belong in psychological practice? Yes-But! Psychotherapy In Private Practice, 4(4), 93-100, 1986. [81] Spilka, B., Religion and science in early American psychology, Journal of Psychology and Theology, 15, 3-9, 1987. [82] Spilka, B., & Bridges, R., “Theology and psychological theory: Psychological implications of some modern theologies.” Journal of Psychology and Theology, 17, 343351, 1989. [83] Spilka, B., Hood, R. W., Jr., Hunsberger, B., & Gorsuch, R. The psychology of religion: An empirical approach (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford, 2003. [84] Spilka, B., Ladd, K. L., McIntosh, D. N., Milmoe, S., & Bickel, C., “The content of religious experience: The roles of expectancy and desirability.” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 6, 95-105, 1996. [85] Sutich, A. J., “Some considerations regarding transpersonal psychology,” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1, 11-20, 1969. [86] Tart, C., States of consciousness. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1975. [87] Tart, C., Transpersonal psychologies: Perspectives on the mind from seven great spiritual traditions. New York: Harper San Francisco, 1992. [88] Taylor, C., Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. [89] Taylor, C., Varieties of religion today: William [76]

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A research note.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 530-535, 1989. [64] Roof, W. C., A generation of seekers: The spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation, 1993. [65] Roof, W. C., Spiritual marketplace: Baby boomers and the remaking of American religion, 1999. [66] Roof, W. C., Religion and spirituality: Toward an integrated analysis. In M. Dillon (Ed.), Handbook of the sociology of religion (pp. 137-148). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. [67] Rothenberg D., Spiritual Inquiry in Transpersonal Knowing. Exploring the Horizon of Consciousness ed. Tobin Hart, Peter Nelson and Kaisha Puhakka (Albany State University of New York Press. 175-76, 2009. [68] Shannon, W., Thomas Merton’s paradise journey: Writings on contemplation. Wellwood, UK: Burns & Oates, 2000. [69] Shapiro, D. H., Jr., “Overview: Clinical and physiological comparison of meditation with other self-control strategies.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 267-274, 1982. [70] Shapiro, D. H., Jr., “Adverse effects of meditation: A preliminary investigation of long-term mediators.” International Journal of Psychosomatics, 39, 62-67. 1992a. [71] Shapiro, D. H., Jr., “A preliminary study of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 24, 23-39, 1992b. [72] Shapiro, D. H., Jr., & Walsh, R. N. (Eds.)., Meditation: Classic and contemporary perspectives. New York: Aldine, 1984. [73] Shapiro, L. A., “Presence of mind.” In V. G. Hardcastle (Ed.), Where biology meets psychology: Philosophical essays (pp. 83-98). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999. [74] Shapiro, S. L., & Walsh, R., An analysis of recent meditation research and suggestions for future directions. The Humanistic Psychologist, 31, 86-114, 2003. [75] Sheldrake, P., Spirituality and theology: Christian living and the doctrine of God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998.

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James revisited. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. [90] Taylor, E, William James on exceptional mental states: The 1896 Lowell lectures. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984. [91] Taylor, E. (1998). William James on the demise of positivism in American psychology. In R. W. Rie- ber & K. D. Salzinger (Eds.), Psychology: Theoretical-historical perspectives (pp. 101-132). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [92] Taylor, E., Shadow culture: Psychology and spirituality in America. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1999. [93] Tillich, P., Systematic theology, Volume I: Reason and revelation; Being and God. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951. [94] Tillich, P., Systematic theology, Volume II: Existence and the Christ. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957. [95] Tillich, P., “Existentialism, psychotherapy, and the nature of man.” In S. Doniger (Ed.), The nature of man in theological and psychological perspective (pp. 42–52). New York: Harper & Brothers, 1963. [96] Treccani, https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ spiritualita/ [97] Walsh, R. (1998). “Developmental and evolutionary synthesis in the recent writings of Ken Wilber.” In D. Rothberg, & S. Kelly (Eds.), Ken Wilber in dialogue: Conversations with leading transpersonal thinkers (pp. 30– 52). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1998. [98] Walsh, R., & Shapiro, S. L., “The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue.” American Psychologist, 61, 227–239, 2006. [99] Walsh, R., Goleman, D., Kornfield, J., Pensa, C., & Shapiro, D. (1978). “Meditation: Aspects of research and practice.” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 10, 113–133. [100] Walsh, R., King, M., Jones, L., Tookman, A., & Blizard, R., “Spiritual beliefs may affect outcome of bereavement: prospective study.” Behavioural Medicine Journal, 325, 1551–1555, 2002. [101] Wilber K., “Title: The religion of tomorrow: a

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vision for the future of the great traditions— more inclusive, more comprehensive, more complete, Boulder: Shambhala, 2017. [102] Wilber, K., The Atman project: A transpersonal view of human development, Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1996. [103] Wilber, K., Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambhala, 2000. [104] Wilber, K., Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution: Boston: Shambhala, 2011.

Biography Pier Luigi Lattuada M. D., Psy. D. Ph. D. Founder of Biotransenergetics a new integral transpersonal psychotherapeutic approach. Pier Luigi is the CEO of the Integral Transpersonal Institute of Milan. He is also director of the Transpersonal Psychotherapy School in Milan, fully recognized by the Ministry of Education University and Research since 2002. He is Faculty and chair of the Department of Integral Transpersonal Psychology at Ubiquity University. He is President of EUROTAS, Global Transpersonal Network. Pier Luigi has published twenty books and several scientific articles.

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Paleolithic Women’s Spirituality and its Relevance to us Today

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 16 April 2021 Received in revised form 02 June Accepted 05 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.10

In this paper, I consider Paleolithic women’s spirituality as expressed through various aspects of their artwork found in the caves of Spain and the ‘Venus figurines and suggest these icons may be seen as an attempt by some of early these women artists to translate their own inner experiences and insights cataphatically, and thereby reconcile the tension between the image-less I experience ineffable transcendence using didactic expression grounded in images. This method was used later by the Spanish mystic Santa Teresa, who clearly felt the mystery needs to be related to personally; it is not an abstract mystery, but a mystery that is alive, that vibrates through us and is what animates every cell in our body; we are an embodiment of this living mystery. Whereas in the 16 Century it was normal for Teressa to consider the mystery as God, it was most likely customary for Paleolithic women to think of the mystery as the Universal or Great Mother, an insight some of them probably arrived at through analogy with the creative force expressing itself through their pregnant bodies. Whereas Santa Teresa employed images that meant something to the people living during her time, these ancient women probably did the same. From this perspective, their artwork may be seen as pointers to this ‘entity’ or mystery, which, is both immanent in creation and at the same time is beyond duality and all definitions. Here, I also submit that they probably realized the creative aspect of the enigma through their pregnancies, and, in their death, they recognized it as the destructive or dark phase in the cycle of life that is so necessary for ‘rebirth’ to occur, and, in its expression through celestial events, they probably celebrated it through their rituals and their pilgrimages which took place at specific times of the year.

Keywords: spirituality; Paleolithic; women; artwork; ineffable; mystery; didactic expression; Santa Teressa; embodiment; Great Mother; celestial events;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Tina Lindhard. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Lindhard, Tina. ”Paleolithic Women’s Spirituality and its Relevance to us Today.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 113-131. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.10

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Tina Lindhard, PhD

Dept. of Consciousness Studies International University of Professional Studies (IUPS) Maui, Hawaii. USA

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I. INTRODUCTION

In this article, I contemplate Paleolithic women’s spirituality as reflected through their art. I feel them reaching out to us today across the span of about 30,000 years, to tell us their story which might help us find ‘el Norte’1 which is so necessary in a society that has lost contact with the mystery, which is really at the heart of it all no matter what name we care to give it. However, the enigma, as Santa Teresa so clearly felt, needs to be related to personally. For her, it was not an abstract mystery but one that takes us beyond appearances and makes us question if it is not God that is hidden inside of us? (De Piero 2014). It was normal for Teressa to consider the mystery as God, but it might be equally usual for others to think of the enigma as the Universal or Great Mother, Spirit, or any other name for this ‘entity’ which is both immanent in creation and at the same time is transcendent and beyond duality and all definitions. From the perspective contemplated here, we are considering a path where the mystery is lived, that vibrates through us, and is what animates every cell in our body, and at the same time, is beyond the material world. We, as such, are an embodiment of this living mystery. “Teresa …(was) able to translate her own apophatic experiences kataphatically, and so reconcile the tension between the “image-less I experience of ineffable transcendence and a didactic expression grounded in images…. (Santa Teressa took her images from) the natural world, the world of merchants and markets, money and jewels, the Domus, or the hearth, and architecture, become the mediating bodies whose overarching purpose is to show the inward movement 1 In Spanish they say ‘ha perdido el Norte’ which means to lose one’s way – which refers to contact with the northern guiding star which has always orientated humans in finding their direction [Garcia Ledger, private talk on-line, 29 Jan. 2021]

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of mental prayer” (Tsoukatos 2011, p. iii). In other words, she took the images from the reality she was accustomed to and meant something to the people of her time. In retrospect, it also helps us understand more about early modern Spain of the sixteenth Century (Tsoukatos 2011). In this paper, I suggest, by using the same lens, we can understand more about early Paleolithic art if we see it as a way by and through which these early women artists sought to reconcile the tension between their experiences and insights of the ineffable through the use of didactic expression grounded in images. I propose that through their art, these early artists (or at least some of them) were able to share with others the essence of their spirituality and, like with Santa Teressa’s images, we, through them, may begin to understand what was relevant to the people of that period. What gives credence to this hypothesis are the images themselves, and also the findings of the anthropologist Prof Dean Snow (2006) who, based on the stenciled handprints found in the caves, determined that 75 percent of upper Paleolithic artists were women (Wang, Ge, Snow, Mitra, and Lee Giles, 2013; News staff 2013; Snow, 2006). As background material, I include aspects of my history to help you, the reader, know a little about my past and also assist in understanding how we can tap into information that comes from paintings that are between 35,000 and 11,000 years old. I also give a brief historical overview of paleolithic matristic society and their art as found in caves in the Iberian Peninsula. In this, I am deeply indebted to Marianna Garcia Legar (2017) for her research into this historical period in Spain and her insights that inform much of this long-overlooked tale on which this article is inspired. I also briefly touch on the ‘Venus figurines’ which have been found throughout Europe and even Siberia. Although most of these figurines

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“With gender being neither ‘natural’ nor pre-social, any delineation of gendered spheres within prehistoric societies, with pre-operative cognition, would have to have been tenuous and most definitely pliable” (Nicholson, 2008, p. 84). [10, p. 84]. Here I also question the appropriateness of applying Piaget’s (1971; 1976) [15; 16] notion of a pre-operational cognition to prehistoric societies such as contemplated by Wilber (1998) and suggest that Hey and Nye’s (1998/2006) findings regarding the experiencing consciousness of children probably better reflects the consciousness of most prehistoric people, a point I expand on later in this paper. Although my main interest is not in the division of labour, it is relevant to the discussion in that for Marx and Engels (n.d.) socially organized labour allows us to distinguish human and animal life, whereas according to Habermas social labour alone was insufficient to distinguish between humans and other primates (Fleming 1998, 2). Thus, he proposed that the peculiar emergence of the human species was marked by the supplement of “the economy of the hunt” with “a familial [male-headed] social structure” which linked with what he considered to be two original, naturally occurring, subsystems – the male sphere of labour and the female symbolic-social sphere (Habermas in Fleming 1998 quoted by Nicholson 2008). However, this reconstruction of our past does not seem to hold water and female anthropologists have shown that in huntergathering societies still in existence today the predominant source of food is not always an animal protein, but plants, nuts, and berries which are gathered by females were often “provided the predominant food source” (Ruether 2005, 18). Here foraging is defined as “subsistence based on hunting of wild animals, gathering of wild plant foods, and fishing, with no domestication of plants, and no domesticated animals except

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date back to the Gravettian period (26,00021,000 years ago) (Fagen and Beck 1996), the Venus of Hohle Fels in Germany is dated to between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago (Eberhard and Eberhard 2011). In the telling, I am also embarking on a journey of unveiling the female equivalent of the hero’s journey as described by Campbell, but instead of seeking to uncover the metaphorical heart of mythology as a unity (Campbell 1972, Campbell 1949), this account reveals the lived reality of (some) preliterate women, not as a myth, but as part of their everyday reality with the mystery in which they considered themselves as participators. This perspective comes close to Sarah Nicholson’s (2008) understanding of the heroine’s journey as “a metaphor for the female relationship with the divine: in the world and in herself” (p. 28). My approach to the topic is research-based which is also informed heuristically and intuitively. In the telling of the tale, I also dispel the myth about man, the hunter, and the “belief that present-day inequality of the sexes had its roots in an ancient lifestyle and in inherent biological differences between the sexes” (Zihlman 1981, 76). It also helps to clarify our notions about early human beings and dispels the “thoughts of the nineteenth and twentieth-century social theorists such as Spencer, Durkheim, Tonnies, Simmel, and Weber, who assumed that public sphere production was a male (and male-only) affair since the beginning of time” (see: Chafetz 2006, McPhillips 1995, Sydie 1987 in Nicholson, 2008, 75). Besides, it questions the historical narrative of Wilber (1995;1996;1998), who, influenced by Habermas, starts with a gender system in place from the outset separating the social labourer (male) from the domestic nurturer (female) (Nicholson 2008). According to the research of Zihlman gendered divisions of labour “probably evolved late in human evolution” and were “never … absolute” (Zihlman 1981, 104).

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the dog” Lee and Daly, in Panter-Brick et al 2001, p. 2 in Nicholson, 2008). Except for the domestication of the dog, this description of foraging applies to many other species so once again we need to look for what makes us truly human. Paleolithic women had a keen and knowledgeable connection with nature including the plants they collected (Garcia Legar 2017). [5]. More than likely she too was involved in the making of tools to extract and collect the plants she gathered (Torrence 2001; Hudecek- Cuffe 1996; Dahlberg 1981). But she was also intimately aware of the seasons and where and when she would find the different foods, both plant and animal including migratory birds, and when these arrived each year and where they nested. But most of all, it “was the regularity of the motions of celestial objects (which) enabled … (ancient people) to orient themselves in time and space” (Krupp, 2003, 1). This knowledge tied them to the cycle of life. However, here I suggest that it seems women in ancient times went further; on realizing nature expressed herself through repeating patterns, she elevated this insight into an elementary calendar system that consisted of dark and light alternating periods based on the equinoxes (Garcia Legar 2017). Her recognition and celebration of these cycles was a manifestation of her spirituality and connected her with an understanding of life beyond that of the material world where the mystery was also perceived within her own body. It is different aspects of this suggestion that I ‘flesh’ out in this article and is what makes humans distinctly human. A. My History

Since my return to University in 2012 to undertake a Master in Transpersonal Psychology and a PhD. in Consciousness Studies which I earned in 2016, scientific investigation into Consciousness has become an integral part of my spiritual journey. As

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the Intuitive Meditation (IM) method of meditation which I practice and research is a heart-based practice with also involves the activation of 19 points in the whole body through the use of touch, a vibratory sound, and breath, my interest has centred around Embodied Spiritual approaches. IM is not a religious practice but a natural method of becoming aware of our feeling nature and also discovering or rediscovering our heart-based inner intuitive ability to connect to the ‘Source’ on our journey of Selfdiscovery (Arka 2013). Different methods of meditation can also be divided into thinking meditation or feeling meditation (Arka, 2003). [26]. IM is a feeling-based path that goes below the mind intending to discover our deeper essence or Self. Some methods go below the mind but do not meditate on the Self. For Swami Muktananda (1994) this is similar to “heron meditation”, although it must be admitted heart-centered modern science-based meditation methods or techniques concerned with wellbeing and/ or even coherence bring physical, mental, and emotional benefits as demonstrated by their many research results (Elbers and McCraty 2020; Field, Edwards, Edwards and Dean 2018; Edwards 2016). However, it is also important to realize that in the past, meditation had different goals and intentions. For Louchakova (2007), the core of practices associated with ego transcendence and contemplation of the Self is the “experimental phenomenological introspection into the living topological construct of the Self “ (Louchakova 2007, p.82) [p. 82] whereas for Arka, the term meditation entails “serious self-pondering [which involves] the process of making profound inquiry into the depth of the soul about . . . [our] existence or how the Universe was created or the laws that governed living and non-living matter (Arka, 2013, 29). [25, p. 29]. In this sense, the objectives of meditation are not so

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2020a; 2019). Although Bettisia Gozzadini achieved a higher degree as early as 1237 in Italy (Bonadede 1845), it is really only during the last two hundred years women have increasingly had access to institutionalized education, especially higher education. However, rarely is it considered what we lose when we over-intellectualize our thinking ability and, in my case, it is was only on recovering my feeling-based way of knowing that I realized the role this level of consciousness has on the quality of our lives particularly when it comes to receiving intuitive guidance, and the sense of connection we have with Nature and with other beings. Bodily-based awareness is also always ‘real’ time, ie synchronized with the intelligence expressing itself through our body, and is perceived as being endless or so much slower than when we are in our thinking minds. Coupled with my academic training, I am also a qualified therapist in Craniosacral therapy and Family Constellation Therapist. The link that runs through all my undertakings started from a desire to heal my personal trauma. It was only in retrospect I became aware that I had dissociated from my body (and from my deeper essence or soul), and where my need to be touched led me to a meditation method built on one’s own touch and giving body-based craniosacral therapy, also based on touch. I also realized personal trauma when coupled with an education system that favours thinking connected with knowledge about the world, is a powerful mixture that keeps many people in their heads rather than fully experiencing life, which includes our primary perception system linked to bodilybased awareness and also possibly the other vestigial senses (Lindhard 2020b). My path involving embodiment has evolved to embrace the collective level of trauma many women face (and also some men) when they do not find their personal aspirations and vision of the world based on caring both

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different from that of science but the way they go about it is traditionally different; the latter looks at the nature of nature using their senses or extensions of them whereas the inner scientist or yogi turns his or her attention inwards to study, explore, and discover his/her inner Self and the laws behind existence. The rationale behind this was if they came to know their own nature, they would know the nature of the universe (Arka, 2003, 2013). As the aim of present-day meditation methods is mainly focused on human well-being, Arka calls the meditation method he developed Intuitive Meditation (IM) to preserve the original meaning of the term. My research into the IM method has led me to contemplate the different ways we have of obtaining knowledge, which in turn has guided me to distinguish between the male and female principles based on different epistemological ways of knowing. From a psychobiological perspective, the order in which our body unfolds starting with our embryological development including the development of the prefrontal cortex is relevant to this distinction. Although the PFC shows developmental changes during the first year, it only reaches maturation during early adulthood (Diamond 2002). The latter area is connected with our thinking mind, a level of consciousness that is enhanced through the training of our intellectual ability through our educational system (Arka, 2013). I associate this way of knowing with the male principle and the female principle with a primary body-based way of knowing which leads to feeling-based intuitive insights involving the heart area (Lindhard 2020a). In the embryo, the heart system starts its development before the neural system indicating its primacy. Both sexes can tap into both ways of knowing although the Western world has favoured the training of our intellectual ability associated with the male idea of excellence encapsulated in the Ancient Greek concept of Paideia (Lindhard

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for nature and all other beings reflected in the patriarchal culture in which we live. This is consistent with Gilligan’s (1988), breakthrough research where she found care and connection are salient to women’s thinking and that in women the “self is known in the experience of connection … interaction, the responsiveness of human engagement” (Gilligan’s 1988, 7), Although women have certainly made in-roads in today’s society, often it has been at the expense of their inherent caring female nature Lindhard, 2020a), which may account for the criticism of Gilligan’s work by some feminists. The enforcements taking place because of COVID where the family has not been able to be present when their loved ones have died during the pandemic reflects a new shift; even in war soldiers risk their lives to recuperate the body of an injured or even dead friend whose body is in enemy territory. For many people, these new rules indicate a trend that is further alienating us from our intrinsic human nature. This points to the need for the healing of society at a very deep level. In some women, including myself, this concern about society is coupled with a deep desire to discover the truth, even in the end maybe the truth when spoken is always relative and needs to be lived deeply to be fully understood. B. Prehistoric History of Spain

Based on these concerns, in this article, I look primarily at Paleolithic women’s spirituality in the Spanish Peninsula as a way of bringing attention to aspects of our history that have not been or at least not been fully acknowledged. Through tracing the DNA in the maternally inherited mitochondria within our cells, it was discovered that all humans have a theoretical common maternal ancestor (Wilson, Stoneking, Cann, Prager, Ferris, Wrischnik, and Higuchi 1986). This woman, known as ‘Mitochondrial Eve’,

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lived between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago in Africa, and has given rise to the ‘Out of Africa’ theory (Cann, Stoneking and Wilson 1987). This does not mean she was the first woman, as other earlier matrilineal lines probably died out. What it does mean is that all humans today share this female-line common ancestor. Not all scientists agree with the data on which mitochondrial Eve is based (Darlu and Tassy 1987), however recent research has found this claim to be fairly robust. From this data, it is possible to construct a family tree based on DNA where mitochondrial Eve is the common ancestor before the main branches, which are known as clades, branch out. These clades define different haplogroups. According to the Hopi tradition, the people of the world have been divided into four main clans associated with the different elements, the Hopi with earth, the Yellow people with air, the Black tribe with water, and the White tribe with fire2. There may or may not be a certain overlap with this division and the different haplogroups, but in this article, we are talking of the history of the ‘white tribe’, where we shall center on homo sapiens who lived in the Iberian Peninsula including the territory south of the river Rhone in France before the patriarchal Indo-European invasion. Following Garcia Ledger (2017), I refer to this area by the Basque name Izpania, meaning the land between two seas. Spain has a very old history of human presence and DNA dating as far back so 1,200,000 years has been found in Atapuerca and Granada. There are various hypotheses about why Neanderthal humans became extinct and more precise dating has shown they were still present in Spain (Zilhão et al 2017) when homo sapiens arrived about 2 Garcia Ledger, private talk on-line, 29 Jan. 2021.

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C. Matrilineal Society

Homo sapiens of Izpania shared a common social-cultural system which was matristic, a terminology Borneman (1975) coined in 1975 to refer to a system that characterized European cultures during the Paleolithic age before the Indo-European patriarchal invasion from the East. This is consistent with Gimbutas’s (1982) version of the Kurgan hypothesis. There are two distinguishing features of matristic societies: one, they are matrilineal, i.e. the ancestral linage is through the woman, and two, they are matrifocused or matricentered, in other words, society is organized around the mother. In matrilineal societies, there is no central authority and therefore must not be confused with matriarchal societies. Ninety percent of the early culture of our species was matristic and it was a period when we were still deeply connected with nature. It predates written laws and is prehistorical

in the sense there is no written history. The maternal basis of matristic societies is what provides the genesis of human culture (Garcia Ledger 2017). And it is “the magic of maternity through which the principle of divine love, unity and peace manifests (itself) in a life full of violence. In looking after the fruit of her body, a woman, before a man, develops her capacity to love beyond the limits of her own being. This caring (nature) is the basis of the development of culture. From it, comes all good work in life, all dedication, all care and all final mourning” [Bachofen in Garcia Ledger 2017). It is interesting to note aspects of this caring nature is also present in other species such as the lioness, even though it does not flourish into the development of culture as we know it. So, we also have to look for other factors which permitted this leap in what makes us truly human. Garcia Legar (2017) also suggests that, through the magic of maternity, the body of every woman was seen as a representation of Mother Earth. Through it, she births both male and female beings and as such males were never excluded or oppressed in matrilineal societies- both sexes were fruits of her loins and were loved equally. Subsequently, one can also find the roots of the notion of “universal freedom and liberty” in matristic cultures (Garcia Ledger 2017, 21). In general, anthropological consensus also indicates that “foraging societies demonstrate the lowest levels of structural inequity between the sexes, for reasons including significant levels of female participation in subsistence production (the capacity to both generate and distribute resources), minimal public/ private separation, and the relative rareness of war” (Nicolson 2008, 43). In matrilineal societies, no definable male gender role was tied to fertilization. Within the clans, it is possible that males also played the role of scouts and assumed a relevant

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40,000 years ago, probably by crossing the Pyrenees. There are many tenable reasons why the Neanderthals died out and it is likely some of them also interbred with the new arrivals who had different cultural habits. It seems they coexisted with homos sapiens for some 2,600 to 5,400 years (Zilhão et al 2017). It has been suggested that the new arrivals to Spain lived in matrilineal clans, which were made of about 25-30 members and included males, but, in those days, the marriage did not exist (Borneman 1975; Garcia Ledger 2017). In anthropological terms, sexuality was termed promiscuous as it was spontaneous and the father was unknown or at least not officially recognized, hence the linage was through the mother line. As these clans were foragers and had no fixed abode, their constant moving around facilitated their meeting of other clans and therefore allowed for intercourse with male members outside of the mother clan (Garcia Ledger 2017).

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role when additional force was required. Reconstructive work suggests that gender roles linked to work in prehistoric times would probably have been interdependent, overlapping, complementary, and flexible in nature (Hudecek-Cuffe 1996, 93). Early women, as Garcia Legar (2017) points out, we’re also very strong, tall, and wellbuilt with well-developed arm muscles and both sexes probably undertook many roles, including that of hunting; a fact is supported by fossil remains (Wei-Haas 2020). Interestingly both genders showed none of the degenerate diseases that start developing during the Neolithic age that included the domestication of cereals. Although it is thought that matrilineal societies existed during benign times (Chafetz 2006, 11), this is far from reality. Between 30,000 and 10,000 BC, the ice age in Europe began to melt, and the land underneath was filled with trees. This slowmelting changed the habits of the people, and although many followed the movements of the mammoth migration to the northeast, some clans in the south of France and Spain stayed where they were with the climate being somewhat milder in the shadow of the Pyrenees. Although by 12,000 BC the climate was slightly better, in the north of Spain the average temperate would have been between -5 and +5 in summer, and in the south of Spain, it was about 15 degrees lower than present-day temperatures ( (Garcia Legar 2017, 36). The length of life was short, being on average about 34 years, and to survive under those extreme must have been a challenge. Bringing up children was not tied to food production as these early people were hunter-gathers, hence birthing and bringing up a child was an act of generosity and sought no gain for the self. It probably involved the participation of all the women and maybe the whole clan. It seems caring has been part of human nature for thousands of years. The fossil remains of “Benjamina”, a nine-year-old girl suffering Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

from “left lambdoid synostosis” found at Sima de Los Huesos site in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) has “been dated to a minimum age of 530,000 years” (Ana Garcia et al, 2010, abstract). The impediments of this disease indicate that pre-Neanderthal humans looked after and cared for one of their tribes who showed a severe psychomotor discapacity and difficulty in walking from birth. This child would have needed more caring than that given by her parents indicating that the whole group was probably involved in this task. “Is there something more human than choosing to take care of someone? Comments Gracia Téllez and adds “that is why we call her Benjamina. Because Benjamina in Hebrew means the most loved” (in Sanchez Romero 2020, para. 2). The women in paleolithic societies (and most likely societies predating this as well) probably worked out a way of tying their child to their backs so they could go about their daily tasks and move around in an uninhibited way. They lived in caves, and in the open-air probably protected by skins of animals, but, as there was no agriculture, they had to keep moving to obtain food; the clan had no fixed abode. D. Patterns in Nature

As stated earlier, celestial events are surprisingly regular. From the sky, ancient humans gained “a profound sense of cyclical time, of order and symmetry, and of the predictability of nature….The sky was a practical tool and it helped people survive (Krupp 2003, 1). For example, earthworms come to the surface during the phase of the “worm moon” and birds migrate to the warm climates in the south during the hard winter months. Through their feeling capacity, birds can “orient themselves on migration paths using internal compasses guided by Earth’s magnetic field” (Morrison 2014, para 2). Equally certain plant seeds begin to grow when the temperature of

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have been counted in moon months. The connection and mirroring of their own experiences during pregnancy would also have helped them realize nature too goes through a period of darkness before it is ‘born again’ in spring. We of course do not know exactly when these insights occurred to homo sapiens, and although we normally associate these alternating cycles with the Yin and Yang (Taijitu) symbol of the Taoist tradition, it seems it was part of old Europe. Ceramic vessels decorated with reverse spiraling forms have been found on ceramic pottery dating about 5,000 BC in the Neolithic Cucuteni culture of Rumania, Ukraine, and Moldavia (Gimbutas 1982). Scholarly opinions regarding when the Teo Te Ching was written range between the 8th and the 3rd century BC (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica), while Stenudd (n.d) suggests it was no earlier than the 6th and no later than the 4th century BC. The legend has it that Lao Tzu wrote it after leaving a high official position in the Chinese empire in dismay and disillusionment with the charade of the government. It also seems the Cosmic cyclical nature was also known to the Druids. In 1987, bronze plaques dating from the 2nd Century were found in Leon, France. Although the Druids normally only wrote about their financial transactions, Kondratiev (1999) suggests they made an exception in writing about their traditional culture and the sol/moon calendar as they knew they were about to be defeated by Rome. We must also remember that “people look at the same bones and stones and see alternatively, conclusive evidence of hunting, conclusive evidence of scavenging, and no conclusive evidence at all” (Wenke 1999, 143). The problem in interpreting prehistoric evidence, “requires the acknowledgment of complicated, perhaps even contradictory, possible meanings. Neither ignoring nor dismissing ambiguity,

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the earth reaches a certain level and others produce seeds when the earth begins to dry out. These cycles are regular year by year and, being tied to nature, early humans were part of this cycle and they too were probably guided through feeling. Based on the Theory of the Six Main Levels of Consciousness (Arka, 2013) and my work into different levels of perception which indicates bodybased awareness predates our secondary perception system linked with the senses and the neural system, I suggest that we are first and foremost feeling beings (Lindhard, 2020a), which also gives rise to a bodybased level of knowing. Also, when one taps in through the heart-mind (or heartmind consciousness) is when many intuitive insights can arise. These insights can be in the form of thoughts, images, and dreams. This ability requires that we are humble and have a deep desire to know how things work including the laws of nature. As pointed out earlier, this potential is what meditation was traditionally all about (Arka in Lindhard, 2016); it is a natural capacity. This desire to know and understand might be what distinguishes us from other animals, even though they, and all living entities, have a certain level of conscious awareness. Although paleolithic people lived close to nature, women’s menstrual cycle probably made them much more sensitive to nature’s rhythms than men. Before the advent of electric lighting of a night, it has been found that “women temporarily synchronize their menstrual cycles with the luminance and gravimetric cycles of the Moon” ” (Helfrich-Förster, Monecke, Spiousas et al 2021, title). When coupled with observation and memory, some early humans realized nature expressed itself through alternating periods of light and dark cycles which were both diurnal and seasonal based on the equinoxes. This is probably what led to an early calendar system (Garcia Legar 2017). Pregnancy also tied women to the moon and the length of their pregnancy would

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the process of building theoretical conclusions from pre-modern evidence requires continuous shifting and sifting to deal with the contradictions that naturally occur” (Nicholson 2008, 87). Bearing this in mind, it seems probable that even during the Upper Paleolithic period (c.30.000” BCE), people were also consciously aware of the alternating cycles of light and dark periods of Nature that repeat themselves yearly (Garcia Legar 2017; Gimbutas 1982). The harsh conditions under which they lived make this a likely and tenable hypothesis. As such both sexes would have had this realization, however, because of a woman’s link to the celestial rhythms through her menstrual cycle, and through pregnancy, it is probable women were more deeply involved in refining a calendar system. I also suggest here it is also through being pregnant that these early women were led to reflect on the mystery that is behind the visible world, but at the same time is participating in creation through its presence in their bodies. This is the consideration of most women when they become aware of the stirring of new life in their belly. We must remember the nature of sperm was first observed sperm through the microscope in 1677. Likewise, the ovum was first observed in 1827 and the process of conception involving the sperm entering the ovum was discovered by Martin Berry in 1843 (CBC News, 2007). Before this, speculation into the nature of pregnancy was most likely in mystical terms, and maybe we are the losers for having a scientific explanation that removes us from a mystery that is still at the heart of all creation. These early people surely knew about fertilization. Sperm in present-day indigenous cultures is referred to as male fluid (Berglund, 1976, p. 94) and it is the heat of the male that drives out the water than then mixes with the blood of the female (p. 96), it is possible that it also was thought of similarly in prehistoric times. In matrilineal societies, no specific male gender Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

role was tied to the progeny who resulted through fertilization. II. THE ART OF PALEOLITHIC WOMEN

When one contemplates the alternating cyclical pattern of nature, one is brought to a realization of there is something invisible that joins the different poles; that behind visible nature is the Mystery or invisible Nature. We may consider this the spiritual, or non-visible dimension. Just like today, we have no way of fully portraying this spiritual dimension that is giving rise to or ‘birthing’ all of visible nature. However, it seems these preliterate women found a way through comparison with their own bodies; for them, the vulva or vaginal opening was the gateway to the mystery, or “origin of life” (Garcia Ledger, 2017, 48). From cave drawings, it appears the sexual dimension of the vulva was not considered so important, however, the connection between the vulva and the uterus, the cave, darkness, the womb, and giving rise to new life or birthing seems to be what is being expressed through their art. Abundant drawings of the vulva are depicted in the Chamber of Vulvas in a cave known as Tito Bustillo in Cantabria. “Although initially considered to be from the Magdalenian era, formal and stylistic similarities in their execution have now placed them in the later moments of the Upper Paleolithic” (Centro de Arte Rupestre n.d., para 3) [60, para 3]. This makes them about 30,000 years old and the cave has been proclaimed a World Heritage Site. “These representations show strong links with other sites in northern Spain (La Lluera II, Micolón, and El Castillo) and beyond in south-west France (AnglessurAnglin, Abri du Poisson, and La Ferrasie)” (Centro de Arte Rupestre n.d., para 5) but it is in the Chamber of Vulvas where the most important and abundant depictions of the vulva in the whole of Europe are found. While constructing the replication of

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the Womb from which all arises [Stenudd n.d. chap 6; Anderson 2017) and seeks no gain for itself. In the caves, which in themselves are a symbol, we also find the symbol V or V with a line through it. This is probably related to the shape of a woman’s pubic area as a V or a V with a line through it that probably represents the creases formed by her legs, and the opening to the womb or the ‘dark cave’. Based on her extensive study of Old Europe, Gimbutas (2001) suggests these hieroglyphics represent the feminine as Mother Goddess and express her vulva. Through association, the goose’s capacity to produce eggs, its ability to travel by water, land, and air as well as its’ distinctive V-shaped feet and footprint with a line in the middle, probably made it the totem or emblematic animal not only of paleolithic women from Izpana3 but possibly a candidate for the creative force behind the manifest world. In this case, it, through analogy, is associated with the Great Mother and/or her creative aspect. Later it became one of the symbols of the Templars and the symbol is also sometimes represented as a trident (El Camino a Santiago n.d.). When contemplating the art from the later Neolithic period, one can observe paintings or sculptures of women where one or both feet are depicted as being that of a goose. The Mesopotamian 3,500 year-old figurine nicknamed the ‘Queen of the Night’ is a case in point. The other symbols found in this figurine point to the association of the feminine with darkness, the lionesses with 3 Garcia Ledger, unpublished private talk.

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the Ekain cave (Gipizkoa, Basque country), a world heritage site, new features were discovered by Karen Mariezkurrena, a Zooarchaeologist, who was responsible for being present in the cave during the construction work. Despite being studied by world-known male experts, Mariezkurrena noticed various facets which had not been observed before. Like in other rupestrian caves, natural features of the caves were transformed by the artists to represent different phenomenon such as “like the horse’s tail” in Altamira and the mask in the cave of Castillo (Altuna and Mariezkurrena 2008). In the Ekain, Altuna and Mariezkurrena suggest that a certain natural feature of the cave might represent the abdomen of a bovine animal where its legs, legs, head, and thorax have been removed [61, abstract]. In addition to this, many black lines or strokes, red stains, red and black dots are found in various parts of the cave. But what is of interest to us here is a vertical streak in the panel of the horses which divides the drawings of the horses into two parts. In the superior part of this streak, a natural oval crease in the rock resembling a vulva has been painted over in red many times. Once again, we find this symbol which represents the entrance to the womb which is the origin of life. As the drawings of some of the horses are fat and well-rounded, it occurs to me that these animals might be pregnant. The use of relief in their pictures makes them dynamic but also it seems the artists often went out of their way to depict the specific and sexual features of the animals they drew as well as the texture of furs and manes of the different species (Altamira, n.d.). The symbols and images expressed in the caves were probably important to the artists of that time making it a communication system. It is also interesting that symbols such as the uterus, the cave, darkness, the womb are found later in the Taoist and also Goddess traditions. In Taoism, they talk of

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caring, and the owls, creatures of the night also with goose feet (Mark, 2014). Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini; I expand the relevance of this connection in the discussion section.

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A. ‘Venus Figurines’

The sculptures, known as the ‘Venus figurines’, are another enigma of the Upper Paleolithic period. These little sculptures lack a face and for the most part, have very plump bodies. Dixon and Dixon (2011) suggest that these “depictions of corpulent, middle-aged females were not “Venuses” in any conventional sense. They may, instead, have symbolized the hope for survival and longevity, within well-nourished and reproductively successful communities” (abstract). Benigni (2013) considers them as being primordial archetypes of the goddess which according to Neuman (1955) contacts with the celestial order of the universe as Regeneratrix, an intermediary position between worlds establishing the linage of the goddess of regeneration and cyclical cosmic times. McDermott (1996) suggests they were made by women and proportions are consistent when the person looks down at their own body. Vandewettering (2015) cautions on us transposing our own ideals onto the Venus figurines, (and acting) as colonizers and appropriators of the past and calls for the need of “constructing archaeological methods of interpreting representations of gender and gender relations in a way that more accurately reflects the ancient peoples who crafted these figurines” (Vandewettering 2015, abstract). Bearing this in mind, the figures might also represent the Great Mother as the force behind creation which is mirrored in the body of the human female form, a suggestion which is consistent with the hypothesis presented here regarding the drawings of the vulva as representing the

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Great Mother. B. Bones

We do not know much about rituals concerning death during the Paleolithic period except the bodies were left for carrion to eat. It seems the bones might have been buried, or at least some of them. In the Mirón Cantabria, one of the caves of Spain, archaeologists discovered the bones of a woman dating from about 20.000 years ago. Her DNA shows she was ancient of 40 years old. She has been named the Red Lady of Mirón. Her bones were placed in a small excavation in the ground between the wall of the cave and huge stone that had fallen from the roof. They also found the remains of mushrooms, which might have been hallucinogenic, had been placed between her teeth. “Her bones had been sprinkled with red oxide on more than one occasion and drawings had been made on the stone. The burial site was also surrounded by ritual fires…and another peculiarity, unique for that moment, was that a great number of flowers had been deposited on the grave… (Garcia Legar 2017, 39). The inscriptions on the stone include the two forms of V one on top of the other, a drawing of the goose’s foot above these, and above that, a vulva (Garcia Legar,2017, 39). In other caves in Europe, they have discovered more female bones with red oxide scattered on them. Although we might not know the reasons behind these funeral rights, it is obvious these women were considered special by their clans. Powder of red oxide was obtained by grinding red hematite, and it was scattered on the bones during Paleolithic funeral observations and also used in the drawings of the vulvas in the cave of Tito Bustillo and the paintings of bison in Altamira.

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III. DISCUSSION

an awareness of our interdependence with other beings, including God, animals, and other humans. It suggests a nuanced sensitivity to the complexity and connection of all creatures. More specifically, the phrase refers to an intuitive, experiential awareness, a felt sense, rather than a mere intellectual awareness. (Exhumator, 2009). God, being an abstract term, might

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In talking about rupestrian art of Africa, Davis (1984) suggests rock art functions as “a medium of communication in three principal contexts: an extended network of ritual acts and beliefs, to out-of-theordinary perception and knowledge, and to adaptively significant local information” (abstract). To these aspects, I suggest that when referring to Paleolithic art in Spain, we may see them as a way through which these early women artists tried to reconcile the tension between the I experiences of the ineffable and at the same time provide a didactic expression grounded in images. In Paleolithic times, like in present-day society, not everybody would have been interested in discovering the secrets and laws of nature. However, now and then, a person was able to go further than his/ her everyday experiencing consciousness and began tapping into something greater which enabled he or her to obtain insights about their nature and the nature of nature. Wilber too acknowledges that “in each epoch, … a very small number of individuals (penetrated) not only into the higher modes of ordinary cognition …but also into genuinely transcendental, transpersonal, mystical realms of awareness” (Wilber 1995, 173). For him, this ability can occur at “virtually any stage or level of development” (Wilber 2000, 227). As such, extraordinary transpersonal insights have presumably been limited to an extremely small proportion of the population in each of the stages” (Nicolson,2008, 129). Throughout the ages, many of those who did manage to obtain these insights not only shared their understanding with others, but left pointers in how they obtained these higher states, and I suggest here that we can consider some of the contents of Paleolithic cave art in this light. Although the upper Paleolithic period extended for some 20,000 years, the

culture of the people seems to have been rather stable. It is also possible that several individuals during this period were able to enter into these higher states through the same portal, hence the similarity of symbols and drawings found in the caves, even though the drawings themselves might be thousands of years apart. For me, Paleolithic women’s spirituality was one of embodiment, where the undefinable was seen as living and vibrating through them. This resonates with Ferrer’s (2011) participatory approach which holds that human spirituality emerges from people’s co-creative participation in an undetermined mystery or generative power of life. In its creative aspect, the mystery was experienced through their womb and pregnancies, in their death, it was recognized as the destructive or dark phase in the cycle of life which is so necessary for ‘rebirth’ to occur, and in its expression through celestial events, it was celebrated through their rituals and their pilgrimages which took place at specific times of the year. Extrapolating backward from Celtic celebrations, there were probably 4 minor and 4 major festivals, with the 4 minor festivals falling on the equinoxes and the summer and winter solstice (Garcia Ledger, 2017). Hay and Nye (1998/2006) found that there is a natural predisposition for children from irreligious backgrounds to see the world relationally. Nye (1998) named the quality of the consciousness ‘relational consciousness’ and it refers to

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be a name used by Western children but not by preliterate people or children of other cultures. Hey and Nye’s findings are contrary to the developmental theory of Piaget (1971; 1976) and Fowler (1981) who suggests children’s spirituality must advance through literalist and conventional stages that necessitate identifying with one belief system. Although the methodology of Hay and Ney’s study has been criticized, their findings open us to the possibility that Paleolithic societies might have similarly perceived the world. The Zulu and Xhosa word ubuntu, which means “humanity towards others” or “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity” (Adotevi n.d., para 2) supports the existence of this type of consciousness in indigenous people. However, I suggest that the relational consciousness of Paleolithic societies, like that found in children, extended to all living creatures including Earth, which was seen as ‘Mother’ and also to beings no longer living. Although Nature as a concept that was worshipped has not been well documented, indigenous cultures recognized and venerated individual natural celestial and terrestrial entities such as air, fire, water, and earth. They also recognized invisible forces (Brittanica, n.d.). The analogy with the goose and the creative force and/or Universal Mother in nature is interesting. This connection might be limited to places in the northern hemisphere, such as Spain and Europe. But interestingly, there is also a link to traditions in India where the creating, maintaining and destructive to re-create aspects of the forces behind the manifest world are known as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (BBC n.d). Although Brahma, the creating aspect is considered as a male, he is riding on a hamsa, which can be translated as a swan or goose, implying Brahma might have a female root. Aditi is a somewhat forgotten ‘goddess’ in the Indian Parthenon and is referred to as the mother of many gods or forces. She is Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

seen as boundless or innocence and is the goddess of the earth and sky, the future and fertility. She is also seen as the celestial mother of every existing form and being, making her the female form of Brahma (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). The three forces together are referred to as Trimurti and are representations of as the three highest manifestations of the one ultimate reality. Trimurti is represented by a trident (Jones 2005). Brahman is considered the highest Universal Principle or Ultimate reality in the universe which is behind the manifest world. Brahman is seen as eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, and the spiritual core of the universe of finiteness and change. Different schools see the relationship of the individual soul to the Absolute Principle as being dualistic, nondual, or qualified monism, which at the same time recognizes the inherent uniqueness of each individual. The Hansa (हंस) or swan is the symbol for Brahman (the transcendent)/Atman (individual soul or Self) in Indian iconography (Jones,2005, page 8894). CONCLUDING REMARKS In Paleolithic times the role of the women-mother was complex and probably multidimensional. However, I, like Garcia Ledger (2017) feel that in the ancient clans, women were not thought of as a god, an idol, nor a queen, nor the mother of a god (p. 40). However, I do feel that their capacity to give birth helped them draw a parallel or analogy between themselves and the creative power behind the manifest Universe which would also have been seen as Mother. For me, the ineffable for them was not an abstract ground of being, but an entity that could create and give birth to a natural world that was dualistic or polar in nature but was also manifesting through them and all creation. This relationship to the mystery as Mother seems to be at the heart of their spirituality.

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hieroglyphics found in Mesopotamia, India and Spain including other parts of Europe, seem to point to this possibility, but this needs to be researched. The way we approach the mystery behind our visible world has changed throughout the ages, but what is constant is that we have tried to understand the ineffable through whatever lens we are guided or feel most attracted. At times we have been purely spiritual; at other times, we have been religious, probably transforming the Great Mother into a Goddess and then substituting her with a male God. These changes indicate there might be a relationship between our socio-cultural system and the way we perceive the Absolute, with matrifocal societies comprehending the Absolute as Mother, and later patrilineal societies seeing the Absolute as Father. However, this entity of necessity is beyond duality, including gender. What has stayed constant throughout these transformations is our concern for others, our Great Mother/ Goddess/God was never impersonal. She or He has always been perceived as embodying the highest a human can aspire. Maybe it is time to rethink some of the trends modern humans are making, both in their approach to the mystery behind the visible manifest world and in our comportment on this planet. We are not robots, and neither are our fellow human beings, we are feeling and thinking beings intimately connected to the Universe and above all to each other and every other living being. Our ability to love the ineffable no matter how we conceive of ‘It’ and to love and care for the creative material expression of the mystery even if these beings as not our own prodigy, is probably what makes us truly human. In family constellation therapy, Hellinger (1999) talks of the need of restoring the order of love through the recognition of all our ancestors, but this is equally applicable to other systems, including human spiritual development. Here I suggest we need to

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For women, embodied spirituality comes naturally as demonstrated by Santa Teresa many thousands of years later, even though she related to the mystery as God. Through the little we know about paleolithic women’s funeral rites it seems they also honoured some of the women who died. Whether they saw death as part of the cycle of life linked to the regenerative aspect of the Mystery, or Nature, we cannot be sure. But the scattering of red oxide on the bones of certain women and on drawings or natural clefts that represented the vulva, seem to indicate that life and death might have been closely linked. Throughout the eons making up the Paleolithic period, the creative aspect of the Mother might have expanded to include the destructive aspect of nature representing death as a necessary part of rebirth. However, as these ancient women were also intimately aware of celestial events and how they influenced the expression of nature (they would have had to, to be able to survive under the extreme conditions they lived), it is possible they also honoured the maintaining or ordering aspect of nature or the Great Mother. In this, it seems probable Garcia Legar’s (2017) hypothesis that the ancient matrilineal clans also celebrated the same celestial events as the Celts, which consisted of 4 minor festivals falling on the equinoxes and the summer and winter solstice and the 4 major festivals falling 40 days later. Researchers are not quite sure why exactly 40 days, but this figure crops up again in the Christian tradition as do the other dates but now transposed to coincide with events in the Christian calendar. But interestingly, Christians are still celebrating the same dates as those which meant so much to our longforgotten ancestors in the Paleolithic age. It appears that in India their understanding of the Universe and the events they celebrate might also have been influenced by an early matrifocal understanding of the Universe. The similarities of symbols and/or

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recognize the spirituality of early Paleolithic women as part of finding a new way forward which includes our early roots. This may enable us to find a common core to various religions and later models of the ultimate nature of reality. We can also learn from these ancient women that spirituality is not something that is separated from life, it is a reverence for life as part of the mystery. Women and men together need to be involved in this endeavour if we really want a viable future for the next generation and all living beings on this planet. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I thank Marianna Garcia Legar who led me, after many years of looking, to the spiritual roots of the Spanish people. Spain has been my adoptive home for many years. I also thank Srinivas Arka for introducing me to the IM method of meditation where one seeks to study, explore, and discover one’s inner Self and the laws behind existence. I realize Paleolithic women must have used a similar approach. I also thank Fr. Cosmin Ciocan who, through this conference, is opening a most necessary dialogue about the role of Spirituality in our lives and in Religions. Bibliography [1] Adotevi, Kpakpo Serge. n.d. Ubuntufm: Promoting A More Collective World. Africa Faith and Justice Network. https://afjn.org/ ubuntufm-promoting-a-more-collectiveworld/#:~:text=Therefore%2C%20the%20term%20 %E2%80%9CUbuntuFM%E2%80%9D,sharing%20 that%20connects%20all%20humanity. [2] Altamira. n.d. Altamira: (Magdelanian Cave Art).’The Sistine Chapel of Palaeolithic Art’. Ancient Wisdom. http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/ spainaltamira.htm [3] Altuna, Jesús. y Koro Mariezkurrena. 2008. Nuevos hallazgos en la cueva de Ekain/ New findings in Ekain cave (Gipuzkoa, País Vasco). BIBLID [0514-

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7336, XLI, 17-32 [4] Anderson, Rosmarie. 2021. The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching. Inner Traditions. [5] Arka. Srinivas 2013. Arka Dhyana Intuitive Meditation. An enlightening journey into your inner realms initiated by your breath, sound and touch. Middlesex, UK: Coppersun Books. [6] Arka, Srinivas. 2003. Becoming inspired. London: Coppersun Books. [7] BBC. n.d. Who is Brahma? Religions Brahma https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/ hinduism/deities/brahma.shtml#:~:text=Brahma%20 is%20the%20first%20god,in%20order%20to%20 re%2Dcreate. [8] Benigni, H. 2013. Emergence of the Goddess. In Benigni (Ed) The Mythology of Venus Ancient Calendars and Archaeoastronony, Chap. 1. University Press of America. [9] Berglund, A.I. 1976. Zulu thought-patterns and symbolism. Cape Town; RSA; David Phillip. ISBN-0 903983-48-6, [10] Britannica. n.d. “Nature Worship religion.” Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/natureworship [11] Bonafede, Caroline 1845. Cenni Biografici e ritratti d´insigni donne Bolognesi (Eng., Biographical notes and portraits of famous Bolognese women). Bologna: Sassi. [12] Borneman, E. 1975. Das Patriarohat. Frankfurt: S. Fischer. [13] Campbell, Joseph. 1949/1993. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 1993 ed. London: Fontana Press [14] Campbell, Joseph. 1972/1988. Myths to Live By. Toronto: Bantam Books. [15] Cann, RL; Stoneking, M; Wilson, AC (1987), “Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution”, Nature, 325 (6099): 31-36, Bibcode:1987Natur.325...31C, doi:10.1038/325031a0, PMID 3025745, S2CID 4285418 [16] CBC News, 2007. “Timeline: Assisted reproduction and birth control.” In Depth Genetics and reproduction. https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/ genetics_reproduction/timeline.html [17] Centro de Arte Rupestre. n.d. Tito Bustillo Cave Art: The Chamber of Vulvas. Centrotitobustillo. Retrieved from http://www.centrotitobustillo.com/ en/2/la-cueva/23/el-arte-rupestre-de-la-cueva-de-titobustillo/16/camarn-de-las-vulvas.html

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[30] Elbers, J and Rollin McCraty. 2020. “Heartmath Approach to Self-Regulation and Psychosocial Well-being.” Journal of Psychology in Africa. Vol. 30, No. 1, 69–79. DOI: https://doi.org/10 .1080/14330237.2020.1712797. [31] Exhumator. n.d.. Relational Consciousness. Exhumator. http://exhumator.com/00-200-00_esotericreligious-spiritual-relational-consciousness.html [32] Fagan, Brian M. & Beck, Charlotte. 1996. “Venus Figurines”, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195076189 pp. 740–741. [33] Ferrer, Jorge, N. 2011. “Participatory Spirituality Andtranspersonal Theory: A Ten-Year Retrospective.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 43, No. 1. [34] Field, Lucy H; Stephen D. Edwards; David, J. Edwards and Sarah E. Dean. 2018. “Influence of HeartMath Programme on Physiological and Psychological Variables.” Global Journal of Health Science; Vol. 10, No. 2. ISSN 1916-9736 E-ISSN 1916-9744. [35] Fleming, Marie. 1998. “Habermas on Social Labor and Communicative Action.” Paper presented at the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy. www. bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Soci/SociFlem.htm. [36] Fowler, J. W. 1981. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. NY: Harper and Row. [37] Garcia, Ana, Juan F. Martínez-lage, JuanLuis Arsuage, et al 2010. “The earliest evidence of true lambdoid craniosynostosis: the case of “Benjamina”, a Homo heidelbergensis child.” Childs Nerv Syst. 26 (6):723-7. doi: 10.1007/s00381-010-1133-y. [38] Garcia Legar, Marianna. 2017. La Rueda de Izpania Fiestas de la Tierra espiritualidad matristica de la penisula ibérica. Barcelona: ADN Grafic. [39] Gilligan, Carol. 1998. “Remapping the Moral Domain: New Images of Self in Relationship.” In Gilligan, Ward, Taylor and Bardige (Eds) Mapping the Moral Domain. Harvard: Harvard University Press. [40] Gimbutas, Marija. 1972/1982. The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. 6,500–3,500. Berkley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. [41] Gimbutas, Marija. 2001. The Living Goddesses. Berkley: University of California Press [42] Hay D., & Nye R. 1998/2006. The spirit of the child. London/Philadelphia: Kingsley/Harper Collins.

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[18] Chafetz, Janet, Saltzman. 2006. Handbook of the Sociology of Gender, Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. New York: Springer. [19] Dahlberg, Frances, (ed). 1981. Woman the Gatherer. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. [20] Darlu P, Tassy P 1987. “Disputed African origin of human populations”. Nature. 329 (6135): 111–12. Bibcode:1987Natur.329..111D. doi:10.1038/329111b0. PMID 3114640. S2CID 4313392. [21] Davis, Whitney. 1984. “Representation and knowledge in the prehistoric rock art of Africa.” African Archaeological Review volume 2, pages7–35. [22] De Piero, Cristina. “Santa Teresa de Jesús, una Mujer de todos lo Tiempos.” Cuadernos de Teología. Vol. VI, No. 2. Pp. 44- 64. (2014) [23] Diamond, A. 2002. “Normal Development of Prefrontal Cortex from Birth to Young Adulthood: Cognitive Functions, Anatomy, and Biochemistry.” In D. T. Stuss, & R. T. Knight (Eds.), Principles of Frontal Lobe Function (pp. 466-503). New York, NY: Oxford University. Presshttps://doi.org/10.1093/ acprof:oso/9780195134971.003.0029 [24] Dixon, F. and Dixon, B.J. 2011. “Venus Figurines of the European Paleolithic: Symbols of Fertility or Attractiveness?” Journal of Anthropology, Article ID 569120 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/569120 [25] Eberhard, K and Eberhard, J. 2016. „It must be a woman“. Universitat Tubingen. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20161011145105/ https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news/press-releases/ newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/es-musseigentlich-eine-frau-sein.html [26] Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. n.d. Tao-te Ching Chinese literature. Britannica https:// www.britannica.com/topic/Tao-te-Ching [27] Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. n.d. Aditi, Hindu deity. Ancient Religion and Mythology. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aditi [28] Edwards, Stephen D.; David, J. Edwards and Sarah E. Dean. 2018. Global Journal of Health Science; Vol. 10, No. 2. ISSN 1916-9736 E-ISSN 19169744. [29] Edwards, Stephen D. 2016. “Influence of Heartmath Quick Coherence Technique on Psychophysiological Coherence and Feeling States.” African Journal for Physical Activity and Health Sciences (AJPHES) Volume 22(4:1), pp. 1006-1018.

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[43] Helfrich-Förster, C., Moneche, S; Spiousas, I; Hovestadt, T., Mitesser, O., et al. 2021. “Women temporarily synchronize their menstrual cycles with the luminance and gravimetric cycles of the Moon.” Science Advances, Vol. 7, no. 5. eabe1358. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe1358 [44] Hellinger, B. 1999. Acknowledging what is: Conversations with Bert Hellinger (C. Beaumont, Trans.). Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co., Inc. [45] Hughes, Virginia. 2013. “Were the First Artists Mostly Women?” National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/ article/131008-women-handprints-oldest-neolithiccave-art. [46] Hudecek-Cuffe, Caroline R. 1996. “Engendering Northern Plains Paleoindian Archaeology: Decision-Making and Gender Roles in Subsistence and Settlement Strategies.” PhD diss, University of Alberta (Canada). [47] Jones, Lindsay 2005, Encyclopedia of religion, Volume 13, Macmillan Reference, ISBN 9780028657332, [48] Kondratieve, Alexei. 1999. Celtic Rituals: An Authentic Guide to Ancient Celtic Spirituality. New Celtic Publishing. [49] Krupp, Edwin C. 2003. Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations. New York: Courier Dover Publications, pp. 62–72, ISBN 0-48642882-6 [50] Lindhard, T. 2016. Unlocking the secrets of the heart through meditating on the self. PhD diss., Dept. of Consciousness Studies, University of Professional Studies. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16952.96008 [51] Lindhard, Tina. 2020a. “Intuition: A Heartbased Epistemology.” Dialogo, 7 : 1 (2020b) 181 – 194 https://www.scirp.org/journal/psych [52] Lindhard, Tina. 2020b. “Mesoderm: The Possible Key to the Organic Basis of Freud’s Theories.” Psychology, 11, pp. 1769-1793. [53] Lindhard, Tina. 2019. “Western Institutional Education System, Cultural Diversity and Violence. “In J. Martín Ramírez & Valentín Martínez-Otero Pérez (Eds). Violencia y Diversidad Cultural, España: Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. ISBN: 978-84120747-0-3 [54] Louchakova, O. 2007. “Spiritual heart and direct knowing in the Prayer of the Heart.” Existential Analysis, 18(1), 81–102.

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[55] Mark, Joshua, J. 2014. “The Queen of the Night.” World History Encyclopedia. https:// www.worldhistory.org/article/658/the-queen-ofthe-night/?visitCount=1&lastVisitDate=2021-330&pageViewCount=1 [56] Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. n.d. Werke. Berlin : Dietz Verlag. --. n .d. Collected Works, Vol. 1-7. New York: International Publishers. [57] McDermott, LeRoy. 1996. “SelfRepresentation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines.” Current Anthropology 37(2):227-275. [58] Mies, Maria. 1998. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale. Women in the International Division of Labour. London: Zed Books Ltd. [59] Morrison, J. 2014. “Electronics’ noise disorients migratory birds.” Nature. [60] Neumann, E. 1955. The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press (trans from the German by Ralph Manheim) [61] News staff, 2013. Paleolithic Cave Painters in Europe were Mostly Women, Researcher Says. Sci News. Retrieved from http://www.scinews.com/othersciences/anthropology/sciencepaleolithic-cave-painters-europe-women-01467. html#:~:text=Paleolithic%20Cave%20Painters%20 in%20Europe%20were%20Mostly%20 Women%2C%20Researcher%20Says,-Oct%20 16%2C%202013&text=Anthropologist%20Prof%20 Dean%20Snow%20from,handprints%20were%20 left%20by%20women. [62] Nicholson, Sarah. 2008. In the footsteps of the heroine. Ph.D diss the University of Western Sydney. [63] No Author. n.d. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva: The Hindu Trinity. Facts and Details, http://factsanddetails. com/world/cat55/sub354/item1353.html [64] Nye, R. 1998. Psychological Perspectives on Children’s Spirituality. Ph.D. Phil. Degree, University of Nottingham. [65] Piaget, J. 1971 “The theory of stages in cognitive development.” In D. R. Green, M. P. Ford, & G. B. Flamer (Eds.), Measurement and Piaget (pp. 1–11). New York: McGraw-Hill. [66] Piaget, J. 1976. The grasp of consciousness: action and concept in the young child (Trans. S. Wedgwood). Cambridge: Harvard University Press (Original work published in 1974).

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Biography Tina Lindhard was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She earned her PhD from the International University of Professional Studies in Consciousness Studies and her MA in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University (ITP). She is an academic mentor at IUPS and also a certified teacher of the Intuitive Meditation method also known as Arka Dhyana. She has also acted as a cranial sacral therapist for many years. Her prime interest centred around finding out about the connection between the heart and different levels of Consciousness, the Female Principle, and Origins. She has many publications on these different topics, all available on Research Gate. Dr. Lindhard is currently president of the nonprofit organization CCASpain and also chair of Consciousness Research of CICA, an international scientific organization.

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[67] Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 2005. Goddesses and the Divine Feminine. A Western Religious History. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. [68] Torrence, Robin. 2001. ”Technology: Macroand Microscale Approaches.”, In Catherine PanterBrick, Robert H Layton and Peter Rowley-Conwy (Eds) Hunter-Gatherers: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [69] Sanchez Romero, L. 2020. Prehistria: Benjamina, la niña pre Neanertal más querida de Apapuerca. Quo. Retrieved from https://www.quo. es/ser-humano/q2011650310/neandertal-atapuercabenjamina/ [70] Snow, D. R. 2006. Sexual dimorphism in Upper Palaeolithic hand stencils, Antiquity, vol. 80, pp. 390-404. [71] Stenudd, Stefan. n.d.. Tao Te Ching – preface. Taoistic, Retrieved from https://www.taoistic.com/ taoteching-laotzu/ [72] Swami Muktananda. 1994. Play of Consciousness: A spiritual autobiography (4th ed.). Chicago, IL: Siddha Yoga Publications. [73] Tsoukatos, Elaini G. 2011. Finding God in all Things. PhD diss. Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University. [74] Vandewettering, Kaylea R. 2015. “Upper Paleolithic Venus Figurines and Interpretations of Prehistoric Gender Representations,” PURE Insights: Vol. 4, Article 7. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/pure/ vol4/iss1/7 [75] Visser, Frank. 2003. Ken Wilber Thought as Passion. Albany: State University of New York Press [76] Wang, James Z. , Weina Ge, Dean R. Snow, Prasenjit Mitra, and C. Lee Giles. 2013. Sexual Dimorphism in European Upper Paleolithic Cave Art. American Antiquity 78(4):746-761. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273042625_ Sexual_Dimorphism_in_European_Upper_ Paleolithic_Cave_Art [77] Wei-Haas, Maya. 2020. Prehistoric female hunter discovery upends gender role assumptions. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic. com/science/article/prehistoric-female-hunterdiscovery-upends-gender-role-assumptions [78] Wilber, K. 1995. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Boston: Shambhala. [79] Wilber, K. 1996. Brief History of Everything.

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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held online, on the Journal’s website, from MAY 21-29, 2021

journal homepage: http://dialogo-conf.com

A Study of the Philosophy of Science and Spirituality Richard A. Honeycutt, PhD. Researcher, speaker, author North Carolina, USA

ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 25 February 2021 Received in revised form 31 May 2021 Accepted 05 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.11

Keywords: religion; science; spirituality; paradigms; metaphors; idolatry; truth; fundamentalism; consciousness;

ABSTRACT

Are religion and spirituality in conflict? The prevailing opinion in today’s world seems to be that they are. But a careful examination of ontological, epistemological, and teleological factors may lead to a surprising answer: there need not be a conflict if we clearly define our terms and understand the pivotal importance of metaphor in human thought. If science and spirituality (or religion) are carelessly defined with claims of absolute truth, and if the unsupportable assumption is made that reality consists only of matter-energy, a dramatic conflict will result between science and spirituality. But these logical flaws invalidate much of what we think we know in the fields of science and spirituality themselves. If we examine Kuhn’s work on paradigms, the revelations of Quantum Mechanics, and consider the topic in the light of Process Philosophy and Transpersonal Process Philosophy, we will be prepared to evaluate the philosophical ideas that underpin the work of Goswami’s “Science within Consciousness” and also the groundbreaking thought of Ken Wilber, Rupert Sheldrake, Owen Barfield, and Eric Weiss. We will discover that essentially all human thought depends upon metaphor, though usually not recognized as such. While necessary, metaphors must not be confused with absolute truth. Comprehension of the nature and proper role of metaphor will clarify our thinking about religion, spirituality, and many other essential matters. The egregious error that is fundamentalism in religion or science will be revealed and can then be avoided. The resulting dawn of understanding can lead us into a new meta paradigm that can eradicate almost all the supposed war between science and spirituality. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Richard A. Honeycutt. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Honeycutt, Richard A. ”A Study of the Philosophy of Science and Spirituality.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 132-146. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.11

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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I. Introduction and Definitions

II. Epistemological Issues

This brief glimpse of religion and science brings us to the epistemological issues mentioned earlier. We actually receive knowledge through five pathways: our senses, transmission from others, reasoning, our emotions, and intuition or direct revelation (which I consider to be essentially the same). Of these, only the last one can provide true knowledge, for reasons discussed below. Sense knowledge in fact consists of the mental interpretation of electrical impulses fed from the sense organs through our brains to our minds. These interpretations are projected into what we conceive as the external world but are not actually objects at all: they are mind stuff. A study of the history of humanity’s

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For most of recorded history, priests, shamans, and “medicine persons” have been the scientists of the day. Much of the confusion that has characterized discussions of science and spirituality in recent centuries stems from inattention to epistemological issues. These issues depend somewhat upon the disparate natures of religion and science. “Religion” is often considered to be formalized spirituality. In his introductory 1901 Gifford Lecture, William James defined religion as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they consider the divine.”[1] For purposes of our discussion, we will consider ‘religion’ to be the feelings, acts, experiences, and beliefs of individual people in relation to whatever they consider to be the true or superior reality. This definition will allow us to include belief/behavior patterns that are not conventionally considered as a religion, but which certainly affect the thoughts and behavior of some individuals in a religion-like fashion. Our focus intentionally excludes the examination of institutional aspects of religion—not because they are unimportant, but because they would constitute a detour from our stated purpose. Thus we can ignore the formal or ritual characteristics of each religion and instead focus on “spirituality”. All religions include certain beliefs or understandings shared by most adherents. The origins of these beliefs may be unknown, as in the case of indigenous religions; Scriptures with unidentified authors, such as the Vedas and some books of the Bible; spiritual leaders, rabbis, gurus, or avatars; or commentators on the works of earlier writers. Some books of the Bible fall into the latter category, as do the works of Patanjali, and the Talmud, and other rabbinical writings. Many adherents believe that one

can justifiably make claims of “Absolute Truth” for the teachings of their chosen tradition. In seeking for a definition of ‘science’, we can hardly do better than that, given by the late Dr. George P. Williams, emeritus Professor of Physics at Wake Forest University: “Science consists of organizing and classifying observed data. For explanations, it chooses the simplest possible one that fits all the known facts.”[2] Some observers question the use of the term “science” to denote studies done before the “scientific method” came into common use in the 17th century, so let us use the term “natural philosophy” for the works of those early investigators. Natural philosophy provided concepts upon which astronomy (then called “astrology”) was based, as well as medical practice, agriculture, what we would call “civil engineering”, and other fields. Natural philosophy was based upon observations, deductive reasoning, and a significant amount of speculative religion. What we now call “science” is based upon the scientific method as well as mathematical and other forms of modeling.

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accumulation of knowledge makes it clear that the nature of our shared mind-stuff changes over time. At any given time, we more-or-less unanimously adopt metaphors in any area of knowledge that serves our needs for getting along in this present life. These metaphors are not basic mindstuff; they are organizations of primary mind-stuff, which makes them a secondary level of mind-stuff. Thus they are not real. Primary mind-stuff is the sensations our minds receive from our brains, and they are real. For example, if I strike a table vigorously with my knuckles, I may feel pain and then say, “Wait a minute, this table (secondary mind stuff) feels pretty real to me!” But notice the words: “…feels pretty real…” It is the feeling, not the table, that is real. My mind associates the electrical signals from my optic nerves and from the nerves in my knuckles with a concept that I call a table. I was taught in school that the table is made of matter, which is made up of molecules, made up of atoms, made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, made up of quarks. But Quantum Physics tells us that all these “particles” are mostly empty spaces in which electromagnetic and gravitational force fields exist. We cannot find an actual subatomic particle, although we can predict the likelihood of finding it in a certain place with some degree of accuracy. All these things are not reality; they’re metaphors. The Matter is a metaphor. Energy is a metaphor. Everything “constructed” from matter-energy is a metaphor. All the “things” that most of us think are real actually are metaphors. Jonas Salk has pointed out: “Man has come to the threshold of a state of consciousness, regarding his nature and his relationship to the cosmos, in terms that reflect ‘reality’. By using the processes of Nature as a metaphor, to describe forces by which it operates upon and within Man, we come as close to describing ‘reality’ as we can within the limits of our Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

comprehension.”[3] In my undergraduate years, I performed some of the foundational experiments of physics, and I experienced sensory input that I interpreted as knowledge. Yet the real knowledge was my perceptions, not my interpretations because my interpretations depend upon my accepted metaphors. And I certainly did not “experimentally verify” all that I learned. I absorbed some “facts” by deductive reasoning from mathematical models, but the quantities and relationships in the models were themselves based upon metaphors. Information transmitted from others is also not real knowledge. But most of what I learned was information received on faith from my professors. In courts of law, we do not accept hearsay information as evidence, but most of the so-called knowledge we learn in schools is only hearsay. This is certainly the case for what we learn from lectures and seminars. Emotionally experienced knowledge is—like all perceptions—true knowledge for the experiencer, but it is not objective knowledge. Even if other experiencers believe they have similar perceptions, we have no way of knowing whether the similarity is apparent, partial, or absolute. We must judge according to our chosen metaphors. The same can be said of intuitive knowledge and direct revelation. Albert Einstein wrote of intuition: “I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”[4] Intuition—or, in religious parlance, direct revelation—is true knowledge to the person who perceives it. It is sometimes described as something that “you know, because you know, because you know.” This variety of knowledge is also subjective.

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[2] [3]

[4] [5]

[6]

and velocity). Continuity: all change is continuous, with no abrupt transitions. Locality: all causes progress in space in a finite amount of time. This gave Newton a problem, since he never found a local cause for gravity, and he famously stated, “I frame no hypothesis.” Einstein discovered that material objects have a speed limit, which is the speed of light. Thus causes could not produce effects in less time than light would take to travel between the objects involved. Strong Objectivity: the world is independent of observers; i.e., us. Material monism and reductionism: everything is made of matter and its force fields, and every phenomenon can be reduced to a material origin. Epiphenomenalism: Consciousness and all subjective phenomena are secondary effects (epiphenomena) of matter, and have no causal efficacy. All causation is upward causation in that subatomic particles constitute atoms; atoms constitute molecules; molecules constitute living cells; cells called neurons constitute the brain, in which consciousness arises.[6]

Historically, there has been no problem with this list of characteristics defining the study of science; the problem is that it has, at least in the last two centuries, been taken to define reality. But none of these ideas can be proven, so they are taken on faith. Let us examine each doctrine. The early years of the development of quantum theory were marked by intense metaphysical disagreements among the great physicists of the time. Werner Heisenberg posited his famous uncertainty principle that literally states that there is an ultimate limit to the precision with which the position and momentum of an electron can

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In religion, adherents of a particular tradition often look to the scriptures or teachings of that tradition as the touchstone of true knowledge. In cases in which an adherent has followed the teaching of his/her tradition and experienced certain results, the experience, like all perceptions, is true knowledge to the experiencer but is subjective. But most beliefs of the majority of adherents of any religion must be acknowledged to be hearsay. It must not be supposed that identifying most of our beliefs to be strongly shaped by our metaphors is a pejorative admission. Thomas Kuhn identified “paradigms” in science which he defined as “a series of ‘universally recognized scientific achievements [in a given field] that for a time provide models of problems and solutions to a community of practitioners.’”[5] Paradigms—another name for metaphors— are essential to human conceptualizing, which is another name for what Dr. Williams called “classifying observed data.” To be useful, however, a paradigm must be internally logically consistent and must comprehend all observed facts about its proposed field of applicability. While the Ptolemaic paradigm of the solar system met these criteria many centuries ago, the work of Kepler and subsequent astronomers has rendered it inappropriate in today’s cosmological views. And while the heliocentric paradigm that replaced it simplified astronomical calculations, physicists now see that paradigm not as a more accurate view of observed facts, but rather as a mathematical coordinate transformation. Quantum physicist Amit Goswami lists six characteristics of the “dogma” of conventional science for the last 350 years: [1] Causal determinism: the universe is a grand machine with everything happening in accordance with Newton’s laws and the initial conditions (position

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be simultaneously measured. If we precisely locate the position, we know nothing about the momentum, and vice-versa. Initially, this fact was thought to result from the way in which the measurements were made: by shining light upon the electron, we perturb its motion. However, a great debate ensued, the result of which was that Neils Bohr’s Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics prevailed. According to this interpretation, not only are the precise position and momentum of an electron in principle unknowable, they cannot be said to have a cause in the normal sense of the word. Quantum mechanics is not about causes and effects, but rather about statistical probabilities. Quantum-mechanical equations yield an expression for a wave, not a particle, and Max Born brought attention to the fact that the square of this wave function yields a probability. Thus quantum mechanics can tell us where an electron (or another particle) is most likely to be, but not where it actually is. In fact, the strict Copenhagen Interpretation indicates that the particle is actually not really located anywhere until it is observed, at which time the probability wave “collapses” into a specific position in accordance with the observation. This fact about subatomic particles is also true about larger objects, except that the probability function of, say, a table is not spread out very far in space compared to the physical dimensions of the table, so the uncertainty in its position is negligible for all practical purposes. Thus according to the most common interpretation of quantum mechanics, the initial conditions of particles cannot be known; hence, determinism is not a viable postulate. One of the great problems in physics in the early 20th century was that atoms could be stable. It was known that moving charges radiate energy, so electrons orbiting in atoms must radiate -- and thereby lose -- energy. One would then expect the electrons to Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

“spin down” to zero distance from the nucleus of each atom because they ran out of energy. Neils Bohr not only proposed the radical idea that electrons only lose or gain energy when they change orbits, but they lose or gain energy in discrete amounts, or “quanta.” He was able to support this idea by calculating the spectrum of light radiated or absorbed by hydrogen atoms: specific frequencies of light radiation that had been measured by optical spectrum analyzers. His calculations agreed so well with the measurements that his theory was considered proven. The later history of quantum mechanics records the acceptance of additional radical ideas. The electron does not change orbits by moving through the physical space between orbits, but by disappearing from one orbit and appearing in another simultaneously - a phenomenon somewhat misleadingly called “tunneling.” Quantized emission and absorption of energy and tunneling are distinctly noncontinuous processes, so continuity is also not a viable physical postulate. Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen attempted to prove that quantum mechanics is absurd by showing that two particles created from the separation of a single particle, and thus sharing the same wave function (quantum entanglement), would remain related in certain ways even if subsequently separated by an arbitrarily large distance. For example, one of the characteristics of a subatomic particle is called spin. If the spin of one of two quantum-entangled particles is reversed, the other will simultaneously reverse, even if it is located on the other side of the universe. The EPR argument was that such “ghostly action at a distance is impossible” since it would require some sort of superluminal (faster than light) communication. In fact, French Physicist Alain Aspect showed experimentally in the early 1980s those quantum-entangled particles do indeed behave as Einstein,

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cannot be defended unless consciousness (or Consciousness) is unitive rather than individual. If we admit that consciousness causes the collapse of probability waves into actuality, we must question whether consciousness has a material origin, since all matter ultimately begins as probability waves. Thus epiphenomenalism falls: the reasoning is circular. If consciousness exists, and if it is nonmaterial, then physicalism— everything is made of matter—can not be true. A similar analysis could be done for the paradigms of most religious traditions. But our purpose is not to falsify either science or religion—even science as now practiced, or any particular religious tradition. Understanding that almost all of our socalled knowledge is metaphorical, we see that questions about the relative accuracy of modern or ancient notions about physical, metaphysical, religious, mental, or spiritual reality are pointless. A very wise man was once asked how the intelligence of a dog compared to the intelligence of a human. He answered, “A dog is just as intelligent in his world as we are in ours.” The metaphors of ancient humans were just as accurate in their worlds as are our metaphors in our world. Does that mean that all metaphors are equally valuable and useful? Of course not! A religious metaphor that leads to ritual murder of children weakens society morally, genetically, psychologically, and socially. A metaphor that involved quarks would have been as useless to a 5th-century BCE Persian as a metaphor that included saber-toothtiger hunting as an essential part of the educational curriculum would be today. The real danger comes from mistaking our metaphors as Truth. Because then, in the name of Truth, we may hate, kill, and destroy. Most of the evils attributed to religions by the detractors of religion have in fact been caused by giving primary importance to metaphors. Hayakawa and Korzybski called

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Podolsky, and Rosen predicted. Thus the EPR theory unwittingly predicted, and the Aspect experiment proved, that nonlocal events do occur. As mentioned earlier, the most commonly accepted interpretation of quantum mechanics states that the position of a particle cannot even be defined until the particle is observed; all that we have before the observation is probabilities concerning the location. A related characteristic of electrons and other subatomic particles is their nature: like waves, or like particles? For many years, electrons were considered without question to be particles, just as the light was considered without question to be waves. Thomas Young’s demonstration of the wave phenomena of interference and diffraction of light in 1800 was considered to have finally proven the wave nature of light. Einstein’s work on the photoelectric effect, for which he first became famous, indicated that light could also behave as particles, which we now call photons. Louis DeBroglie suggested that electrons have a wave nature, and subsequent experiments demonstrated interference and diffraction of electrons. Then things became even more interesting, for it was demonstrated experimentally that if we observe an electron (indirectly, since there is no way to see an electron) with a particle-sensing instrument, we will find that the electron has a specific location and that interference and diffraction do not occur. But if we observe it with a wavesensing apparatus, the electron’s “location” will be spread out in space, and interference and diffraction will be found. Thus we find that the wave-like or particle-like nature of electrons, photons, etc., all depend upon the observer. Much discussion has occurred as to the meaning of observer: who or what qualifies as an observer able to “collapse” a probability into an actual position? In 1955, mathematician John von Neumann stated that the observer must possess consciousness. If this is so, strong objectivity

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this “mistaking the map for the territory” in their books Language in Thought and Action and Science and Sanity, respectively. Owen Barfield called this logical error idolatry in his book Saving the Appearances. When we examine dearly-held opinions in politics or science (among other realms of thought), we see that such idolatry is not the sole purview of religion. In Novum Organum (1620), Sir Francis Bacon identified four idols (false images) of the mind, that interfere with correct scientific reasoning. These are: [1] Idols of the Tribe: Mentally imposing order on phenomena where lesser—or no—order exists. [2] Idols of the Cave: The effects of particular personalities, likes and dislikes upon a person’s reasoning. Probably alludes to Plato’s Allegory of the cave, in which people develop, unaware that they see only a shadow of reality. [3] Idols of the Marketplace: Confusion in the use of language. (This is part of what was addressed by Korzybski and Hayakawa in the study of general Semantics.) [4] Idols of the Theatre: The following of academic dogma and not asking questions about the world. British philosopher and author Owen Barfield proposed the evolution of human consciousness from “original participation” through processes as seemingly diverse as the Hebrew religion and Indigenous cosmologies, to a physicalist, sensorily-based outlook, to “final participation”. Original participation is a sort of consciousness that sees phenomena as representations of things fundamentally like oneself. A Native American in 1600 would naturally consider a bear to be a representation of a being with thoughts, hopes, and drives much

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like his own. Thus nature, as perceived by humans, is a representation of human-like beings, and even rocks and streams have consciousness. The middle state of consciousness prevailed in the 19th century, propelled forward by Descartes’ “surgery”, in which he cleft matter from spirit. Final participation is the sort of consciousness that sees nature and other phenomena as projections from human minds themselves. An extreme manifestation could be identified as incorporating Bacon’s idols of the tribe. In either form of participation, the perceived phenomena are only images or metaphors that are useful as we try to understand our physical and psychic world. At any point in these three stages, human perspective was aided by the images or metaphors which were only representations, not reality, though they had the appearance of reality. Much of scientific and philosophical writing has had the ultimate purpose of “saving the appearances”. If we recognize the images as representations, they do no mischief. But if we experience them as ultimate reality, they become idols. The antidote to this idolatry is imagination, in which we consciously picture the images as if they were true, in contrast to unconsciously accepting them as ultimate truth. An example of employing this antidote is the 21st-century physicist who continues to use Michael Faraday’s “lines of force” or the Bohr atom as conceptual aids, knowing all the while that they represent only certain aspects of what is currently conceived as reality.

III. Science and Spirituality

This brings us to an essential point: much ‘perhaps most’ of the debate supposed to have existed between science and religion

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Scientism usually involves a misunderstanding of scientific laws – a belief in science as ultimate truth: “Galileo believed that there was a single and unique explanation to all-natural phenomena, one that can be understood through observation and reason and which makes all other explanations wrong. The Church insisted that science, though useful, was only one route to knowledge about the world. With Plato and Aristotle, Church authorities insisted that number was not inherent in the world but was projected upon it by humans: laws of science were not discovered but invented. The elaborate mathematical formulae of the Copernican hypothesis ... were not descriptions of reality but maps or models of reality. It was a serious and prideful error, the Church said, to mistake the map for the territory. There would always be a gap between the models of science and the reality they represent,

one that could not be bridged by human reason.”[8] The danger to the science of scientistic fundamentalism is that it presents almost insuperable obstacles to the growth of scientific understanding. Scientism also often involves the misimpression that scientific laws as presently understood are complete at some point in time. Counterexamples include: 1) Newton and the gravity problem - 17th century With the backing of no less a figure than Aristotle, falling objects were explained by the belief that it was the nature of all objects on earth to fall. Newton proved that gravitation is a force that exists between massive objects and attracts them to one another. This is as true of heavenly bodies (Earth, sun, moon) as of terrestrial bodies. 2) Einstein vs Newton - 20th century

Einstein showed that Newton’s Laws of Motion are only approximations that are valid at low velocities, and that they break down as a body approaches the velocity of light, which in fact is the ultimate speed limit of any massive body in the Cosmos. 3) Bohr vs Einstein on causality - 20th century Neils Bohr and the other pioneers of quantum theory showed that events at the subatomic level are not —even in principle— predictable by Newton’s or even Einstein’s laws of motion, for in that realm, probability reigns and predictability is not possible. Einstein objected that “God does not play dice,” but the success of the quantum theory indicates that indeed something like the chance operation of a dice game is built into the universe. Although strictly categorizing people on any basis often leads to unjustified conclusions, I believe it is safe to say that many people hold views that fit one of three

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has not been between science and religion at all, but rather between scientism and religion. Scientism, or science treated as a religion, is a societal problem in both the church and the laboratory. Schwartz states, “A result of training within the paradigm is that history, metaphysics, and interdisciplinarity are downplayed. A false sense of history is promulgated in which previous scientific giants are portrayed as having the same theoretical biases (paradigms) as the current ones. As he undergoes this educational process, the aspiring scientist not only learns a false tradition but also tends to lose some of his empathy and ethical and philosophical overview of life. All too frequently he also develops what in some cases is an extreme antagonism toward anything not consistent with his newly acquired conception of the universe.”[7] Note the similarity to the development of religious fundamentalism.

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descriptions: 1) The religion in which they were raised, or perhaps the religion into which they have been converted, is completely true for all people, and not subject to differences of interpretation: any such differences ultimately stem from error. Scientific evidence is valid only to the extent that it coheres with this religious truth. The ancient texts of our own religion contain absolute truth, although we may misinterpret these texts through our errors. Each of us is obligated to teach others all the “truth” that we know and to eradicate errors in others’ thinking. 2) All religions contain elements of truth, though some more closely approach truth than do others. Real differences of perception and opinion exist among wellintentioned people, and the ideal religion for one person may not be ideal for everyone else. Newtonian science gives us the truth for the physical world, but it can be ignored when its predictions disagree with our particular religious beliefs. Quantum Physics—especially nonlocality and other “Quantum Weirdness”—is suspect. Most ancient religious texts represent attempts to explain natural phenomena to the prescientific mind. 3) All religions are human creations that attempt to explain the unknown, and are of no use in this scientific age. The currently accepted physicalist view of the cosmos and of humankind is correct insofar as it goes, although it is not yet complete. Descriptions 1 and 3 can be identified as fundamentalist: #1 describes religious fundamentalism, and #3 describes the fundamentalism of Scientism. Both are internally self-contradictory, and thus philosophically unacceptable. The internal contradictions of religious fundamentalism have been detailed by philosophers and theologians for hundreds of years, and

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need not be further expounded here. The internal contradictions of Scientism have been discussed already. Description #2 may well be the most prevalent view in 21st-Century western society. Its weaknesses include a lack of trust in Quantum Physics, which is the most successful theory of physics ever formulated. Part of this mistrust is founded upon the nature of Quantum Physics as described by the Copenhagen interpretation: that it does not claim to define truth, but only claims to give accurate predictions. And its predictions are accurate in the extreme. Another part of the mistrust comes from the presence in Quantum Physics of unfamiliar concepts such as wave/particle duality, probability waves, the Principle of Uncertainty, and non-locality. Yet all of these features have survived the strenuous efforts of the architects of Quantum Physics—notably including Albert Einstein—to ban them from serious consideration. One cannot be intellectually honest in the 21st Century and discount Quantum Physics. Another weakness of Description #2 is that it very probably misunderstands the nature and value of ancient religious texts. It is all but impossible to “get inside the mind” of ancient mankind; thus projecting our habitual way of thinking upon them in order to assess and evaluate their writings involves serious methodological error. Nothing even approaching the modern “scientific” way of thinking about natural phenomena (including humankind) existed before the time of Galileo, very probably not before Newton, and perhaps not even before the 18th Century. The third weakness of Description #2 is that its view of religion and spirituality is very vague: in an attempt at open-mindedness, it pours both the baby and the bathwater into the crib!

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IV. Possible Elements of a New

Metaparadigm

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Having now beat around the bush of consciousness, we now move on to examine what it might mean to say that consciousness is the Ground of Being or the basis of reality. We can propose that there is an ultimate reality external to us all, and decide that the goal of our science is to find out and describe just what that reality is. This simplistic plan has driven many of our scientific endeavors for centuries. Yet this plan ignores us ourselves, for whom the results of our inquiries are supposedly intended. As uncomfortable as Berkeley’s philosophy may be at first blush, its basic postulate—we cannot experience objects, only ideas—can not be logically refuted. Ultimately, every physical thing that we consider to be an object is only real to us through our interpretation of perceptions, a mental process working upon electrical signals originating in our physical sense organs and brain. So what we consider to be knowledge of the physical world is mindstuff (“ideas”, in Berkeley’s terminology). Earlier we discussed five pathways of knowledge: our senses, transmission from others, reasoning, our emotions, and intuition or direct revelation. We have just examined the first. All the other four are also minded stuff or ideas. The preceding paragraph may be overly dogmatic. We should acknowledge that our epistemology, like all other aspects of our thinking, relies upon metaphors. There may be a level of ultimate reality beyond what we can now conceive, but the metaphor of consciousness as the origin of what we perceive as reality can prove very useful. In considering consciousness to be the basis of reality, we explicitly limit our discussion of reality to the humanly knowable. Any level of reality that we cannot now perceive

is purely speculative, and while perhaps entertaining, does not lend itself to scientific or philosophical examination. Consciousness as usually considered can be viewed as a property of matter. The question, “does a stone have consciousness?” can be answered in the affirmative by Panpsychism. But in a consciousness-based metaphor, the question is senseless. We could ask instead, “does consciousness sometimes appear to me in ways that I interpret as what I call a stone?” So what do we mean by a “consciousness-based metaphor? Amit Goswami, a theoretical nuclear physicist who has been a member of the University of Oregon’s Institute of Theoretical Science since 1968, proposed a “Science within Consciousness”[9] In this view, consciousness is fundamental, and the physical is just a result of the action of consciousness. From a more familiar perspective, William Tiller, Stanford University Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering, has proposed an 11+-dimensional mathematical metaphor incorporating our familiar 4-dimensional “D-space” Reference Frame or RF (spacetime: length, width, height, and time) plus a conjugate 4-dimensional “R-space”(“inverse spacetime”) embedded in the 9-dimensional RF of emotions. The RF of emotions is embedded in a 10-dimensional “mind-space”, which, in turn, is embedded in the 11-or-higher-dimensional “spirit space” that, according to Tiller, “forms the absolute universe[10]. (See Figure 1.) Tiller solves Descartes’ interaction problem by the introduction of the Deltron, which permits coupling between D-space and R-space. A substantial body of experimental evidence, some of which has been replicated, supports Tiller’s metaphor. (Note that physicalist string theories require 11, 12, or 26 dimensions.) Further discussion of Tiller’s

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ideas can be found online.[11] Figure 1: Tiller’s 11-dimensional Reference Frame Quantum Physicist David Bohm postulated that things, such as particles, objects, and indeed subjects (intelligent beings) exist as “semi-autonomous quasilocal features” of underlying activity, the holomovement, to denote the ground of being, or in his words, “…the holomovement is what is”. The holomovement contains an ordering principle that he called the implicate order. Space and time are features of the explicate order, which is an unfolding of the implicate order in a specific case. Bohm’s example is what happens when a drop of ink is stirred into a beaker of glycerine. What begins as a drop is drawn into a long thread as the glycerine is stirred in a constant direction. Once the thread has become so thin as to be invisible, if the glycerine is stirred in the reverse order, the thread will appear, thicken, and eventually revert to a drop of ink. At the end of the first stage, the ink was enfolded into the glycerine, and after the second stage, it has been unfolded. In the same way, Bohm says, all potential actualities are enfolded into the implicate order and can be unfolded into what we could call manifest reality. Just as a holographic photographic slide can be Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

cut up into bits and each bit, if illuminated properly by laser light, can recreate the entire image (though at lower resolution), all the characteristics of the holomovement are incorporated into each part.[12] In Bohm’s thinking, structure and process are more important than objects. In his 1967 book, The Ghost in the Machine, Arthur Koestler expounded a related idea, using the word holon to describe something that is both part and the whole. He dubbed the connection between holons as a holarchy. Both Koestler’s holarchy and Bohm’s holomovement are ideas that incorporate both holism and order. In pondering how biological organisms grow into predictable shapes, biologist Rupert Sheldrake realized that the common answers involving DNA, RNA, and genes did not explain how one cell in a fetus develops into part of a foot, while another develops into part of an eye. Genes are basically recipes for making proteins; they do not determine the form into which cells made of those proteins will develop. So he proposed the idea of a morphogenetic (shape-birthing) field, which contains the memory of the form into which a group of cells should grow. Memory is produced by resonance in morphic fields. Similar forms—both material ones and immaterial ones such as ideas—are connected by morphic resonance. These concepts are discussed at length in Sheldrake’s book A New Science of Life. (This is a different way of looking at synchronicity as defined by Jung: “meaningful coincidences”. With the concept of morphic resonance, the elusive cause of synchronicity need no longer be sought: it is built into the fabric of the cosmos.) Sheldrake states that the universe is in some sense alive and teeming with memory. Thus the “laws of nature” are more like “habits of nature”. Again we see a connection among separate parts and a built-in ordering principle.

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Based upon this realization he introduced a radically new kind of philosophy, called Process Philosophy, which is based upon events. Philosopher Eric Weiss has extended process Philosophy to embrace “anomalous” (such as psychic) phenomena, which results in what he calls Transpersonal Process Philosophy (TPP). Like Process Philosophy, TPP is based upon events, which are called “occasions”. There is only one type of occasion, although there are different, holarchically organized “grades” of occasions, transphysical, physical, organic, inorganic, and so on down. Each of us, at each moment of our existence, is an actual occasion, causally affected by the past. The causal effect of the past is one way to describe the memory. So memory does not have to be cerebral: an iron nail that has been stroked with a permanent magnet will become magnetized, “remembering” its “experience” with the permanent magnet. This is the exact principle used in “core memories”, tape memories, and floppy and hard-disk memories for computers. Neither an occasion nor its “memories” is a physical thing, not even a putative physical “memory trace” in a brain. In fact, memory is the composite influence of past occasions upon present occasions, and all occasions are mind-stuff (elements of consciousness). Thus scientists looking for memory traces in the brain are engaged in a futile search because memory traces are not static objects, but parts of dynamic living consciousness elements, as Gary Schwartz explained in his Dynamic Living Systems discussions in the aforementioned book. Every occasion involves a choice among a set of possibilities. These possibilities have been generated by occasions in the past. The chosen possibility is actualized and becomes an occasion. Consciousness is the fundamental agency of actualization: matter is only actualized by the mind. Eric Weiss summarizes foundational Process

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Two ideas that are being seriously studied by physicists today are the “Many-Worlds” interpretation of Quantum Physics and Mtheory. The Many Worlds Interpretation of QP was created in an attempt to avoid “observer” and nonlocality effects. In the Many-Worlds (or “Many Universes” theory, every possible universe exists, but we can only observe the one we are in. “Possible” in this case means able to be formulated mathematically. In other words, the sole criterion for the existence of a universe is mind-stuff. M-Theory was created in order to unify all superstring theories and to reconcile Relativity with Quantum Physics. It requires eleven dimensions (10 geometric or quasigeometric dimensions, plus one time dimension. The fundamental element in M-theory is strings—one-dimensional mathematical constructs: mind stuff. Gary Schwartz applied systems theory to living beings, with “living” being defined as James G. Miller did in Living System Theory: “Living is a process of being and becoming”. Schwartz concluded that everything in the universe—both biological and “dead”, material and nonmaterial—is alive, processes information, and has the property of memory. This concept is the subject of his book with Linda Russek: The Living Energy Universe. Throughout history, most philosophers, proto-scientists, and scientists have unquestioningly believed that matter (or “substance”) was the ground of reality. It depends upon nothing besides itself to exist. It endures in time and occupies space. In Quantum Physics, however, we see substance revealed as only a metaphor, and reality as a series of shortlived, discontinuous, physically non-causal events. Philosopher/mathematician Alfred North Whitehead summarized the shift in perspective: “Change, development, “becoming” are more basic than substance.”

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Philosophy by saying: “Thus, we see that in ourselves at least, every actual occasion of experience involves feeling, imaginative interpretation, and decision. First, an experience of some object from the past; then an interpretation of that past experience; sometimes followed by an imaginative grasp of new possibilities; and finally, a choice that selects from the field of possibilities. Whitehead calls this whole process of feeling, interpreting and deciding the “‘concrescence” of an actual occasion.”[13] The question naturally arises: how does the experience feel continuous, if made up of discrete occasions? Each occasion inherits “memory” from previous occasions, and senses a future through possibilities from which it chooses. Each occasion can be further decomposed into simpler “prehensions”. Electrons, quarks, strings; occasions, prehensions: is there a bottom? There seems to be a fundamental human urge to figure out what everything depends upon. In the mythology of some Native American tribes, the world is supported on the back of a giant turtle. Having repeated this myth in a lecture, so the story goes, a philosopher once asked his listeners, “and what supports the turtle? A voice from the back of the room answered, “More turtles. It’s turtles all the way down.”

is a major ingredient in many people’s understanding of life, and the concept of oneness seems to imply a loss of individuality and responsibility for one’s actions. I think what we have here is a difference between ontological and teleological oneness. Ontological oneness is the unity of being: the state in which there is no distinction between one person and another. Teleological oneness is the oneness of purpose: the state in which two or more persons share the same ideals and intentions. Dr. David Hoke Coon often spoke of marriage as “that divine arithmetic in which one plus one equals one. When we speak of a married couple as having become “one”, we certainly do not mean that they look the same, think exactly alike, or always have the same opinions. We mean that they are unified in the overall purpose and dynamics of their relationship. When one is joyful, so is the other. When one hurts, so does the other. How this unity plays out in life decisions may sometimes involve conflict, but ultimately, the two are united in purpose. On the surface, the oneness of consciousness could seem to imply that we can read each other’s minds if we only try hard enough. This would be true of ontological oneness, but not of teleological oneness. The antidote to this misimpression is the realization that it is only at the superconscious level that we are all one. (See Figure 2.)

Conclusion: Oneness Werner Heisenberg, one of the architects of Quantum Physics, said, “More than one consciousness makes no sense.” (paraphrased) Nobel prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger wrote, “Mind by its very nature is a singulare tantum. I should say: the overall number of minds is just one.”[14] In the Western world, particularly the USA, the ideal of “rugged individualism”

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Figure 2: Consciousness Map

neighbor” becomes the truest act of Selflove. (I capitalize Self here to indicate the greater Self, not the small ego-self.) The effect of recognizing the oneness just among humans would be warmer, friendlier relationships, national and international politics without corruption and rancor, the end of financial oppression and wars, and improved health for everyone. The competitive urge that has led to sacrificing all these blessings for “survival of the fittest”— the biologically and athletically fittest individuals, families, and communities— which no longer serves us but may lead to our extinction, could be abandoned in favor of a truly beneficial universal ethic. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished! References [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience; New York: Mentor, 1958, p. 42. George Williams; personal communication. Jonas Salk, Survival of the Wisest, Harper and Row, New York, 1973, p. 45. (Quoted in Jahn, Robert G.; and Dunne, Brenda J.: “Science of the Subjective”, Journal of Scientific Exploration, 11, 2 (1997); 201-224). Albert Einstein, On Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms, New York: Dover Publications, 2009, p. 49. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, quoted in Schwartz, Stephen A.: The Secret Vaults of Time, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978, p. 249. Paraphrased from Amit Goswami, The Visionary Window. Wheaton: Quest Books, Ill., 2000, pp 27-29. Stephen A. Schwartz, The Secret Vaults of Time, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978, p. 253 Wade Rowland, M. A., “Galileo Galilei, Misguided Cheerleader of Science,” Research News and Opportunities in Science and Theology, Dec. 2002, p. 22. Amit Goswami, The Visionary Window, Wheaton: Quest Books, 2000.

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Access to our superconscious is not achieved by simply willing it: spiritual practice—yoga, meditation, contemplation—is required. The misunderstanding that “wanting it real bad” (that is, access to the superconscious) is requisite brings to mind the story of the chela (student) who asked his guru, “how long will it take for me to become enlightened?”. The guru replied, “hard to say—maybe seven years? Disappointed, the chela pressed on, “what if I try really hard?” “In that case, maybe twenty years.” At the rational level, we do not often experience oneness with each other. Even in dreams—the most common subconscious experience we have—we seem to be separate. But in enlightenment, those interpersonal boundaries fall, according to the testimony of mystics of all religious persuasions. Furthermore, since the superconscious mind can be considered as having the same relationship to the subconscious mind as the subconscious has to the conscious mind, we can all be influenced by each other, as Carl Jung described in his concept of the collective unconscious. We experience the collective unconscious in many ways. Perhaps the best-known one that Jung described is the existence of the so-called “Jungian archetypes”: the shadow, the wise old man or woman, the anima, the animus, the mother, the child. These are conceptually related to the Platonic ideals in that they are not physically realized attributes; they are universal concepts that appear in the psyches of each person. Let’s consider the existence of something very like the Golden Rule (treat others as you would like to be treated) in virtually every faith tradition. From a perspective of oneness, “others” cannot be separated from “self” at the deepest level. “Love your

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William A. Tiller, Some Science Adventures with Real Magic, Pavior, Walnut Creek, 2005. [11] www.tillerfoundation.org/white-papers-1. [12] David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, London: Routledge, 1980, pp. 178ff. [13] Eric Weiss, The Long Trajectory: Reincarnation and Life After Death, 2009, p. 76, http://www.ericweiss.com/papers/ pdf/thelongtrajectory/eric_weiss_the_long_ trajectory_pre_publication_version.pdf [14] E. Schrödinger, What is Life? Mind and Matter London, UK: Cambridge University Press; 1969:145. [10]

Biography Education: B. S. Physics, Wake Forest University, 1970 Studies included Old Testament and World Religions under Dr. Phyllis Trible and others, Philosophy under Dr. Robert Helm, as well as interdisciplinary honors seminars discussing arts, science, philosophy, and consciousness under Dr. Philip Hamrick, Dr. George Williams, Dr. Robert Brehme, and others, and meetings with Dr. J. B. and Louisa Rhine. Ph. D., Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, The Union Institute, 2004 Studies included a seminar on Science and Spirituality (3 GCH) under Dr. Kevin Sharpe of Oxford University, founding editor of Science and Spirit magazine, as well as numerous student-led seminars (3.5 GCH) on science and consciousness. Recent experience: 12 years as a researcher, teacher, speaker, and author in Science within Consciousness and Science and Spirituality.

Emotions and Conflict, Mysore (India) January 9-10, 2018 (http://cicainternational. org/CICAinternational/XLIII_CICA_India. html) Hello, Daddy, a discussion of Christian Prayer. Parson’s Porch, 2012. “Stepping toward the Light at the Mouth of the Cave” (a review of Karen Armstrong’s A History of God), The Journal of Faith and Science Exchange, III, 1999, 131-139. “Not Just the Great Spirit: Traditional Native American Views of Consciousness”, International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice, Vol 6(Jul, 2018) No 3 (also presented at the XLIII CICA International Conference on Understanding Consciousness: Wellbeing, Emotions and Conflict, Mysore, India, January 9-10, 2018.

Appearances and publications: XLII CICA International Conference on Understanding Consciousness: Wellbeing, Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

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Henri-Dominique Lacordaire in the Canadian ultramontane philosophy

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Anastasiia Cherygova University of Ottawa Ontario, Canada

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 28 April 2021 Received in revised form 21 May Accepted 25 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.12

When the ultramontane bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe in Canada invited the French Dominicans to his diocese, he requested help from their leader, another French-speaking ultramontane, Reverend Father Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, O.P., who restored the Dominican Order in France after a long ban on religious orders. However, there seemed to have been a paradox at the heart of this invitation. Lacordaire was an extremely controversial figure in both secular and Catholic French circles, mostly due to his rocky relationships with the French episcopacy, his unconventional preaching style and especially his political opinions, including his admiration for republicanism and the Anglo-American political system. Theoretically, all this would put him at odds with Canadian ultramontanes. They were rather opposed to the growing politically liberal forces in Canada specifically and to the Anglo-American politico-philosophical system in general. So why would Canadian ultramontanes ask help from a man so seemingly different from them politically? Our hypothesis is that what united Lacordaire and Canadian ultramontanes was more significant than what divided them - notably, both parties were concerned about opposition to Catholicism coming from State officials, as well as about the menace of irreligion among the growing bourgeois class. Therefore, both were keenly interested in advancing the cause of Catholic education to combat these worries. To prove our hypothesis we would employ methodology based on personal writings and biographical accounts of actors involved in the arrival of Dominicans to Canada, as well as on historical analysis effectuated on connected topics, like the ultramontane scene in Canada, French missionary activity in North America, etc.

Keywords: Catholicism; Canada; France; bourgeoisie; State; secularism;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Anastasiia Cherygova. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Cherygova, Anastasiia. ”Henri-Dominique Lacordaire in the Canadian ultramontane philosophy.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 147-156. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.12

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I. INTRODUCTION

The arrival of the Dominican Order to Canada occurred under interesting circumstances: in 1855, Jean-Charles Prince, a Catholic bishop of a newly created diocese near Montreal sent a request to the Order that has returned to France just a little while ago after an exile of half a century[1]. Even more surprising is the fact that newly reestablished French Dominicans were lead by a priest who had shocked the French public and French episcopacy not only as a cleric and a preacher but also as a journalist and an elected official - Reverend Father Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, O.P. By the time that the invitation was extended, Lacordaire had a chance to get involved in a controversial anti-regime newspaper that worried both the civil government and the Church hierarchy, flee the country to return as a Dominican friar, reestablish the Dominican Order in France and get elected to the National Assembly. In addition to all this, Lacordaire openly expressed his admiration for the United States, whom he considered to be an example of “the most absolute liberty in the most encompassing equality”[2]. The polarizing reputation of this ultramontane priest, especially his liberal political views, would theoretically put him at odds with the ultramontane Canadian episcopacy, who worried about the spread of Anglo-American liberalism in Canada and differed significantly from Lacordaire’s freethinking. So why would Canadian Catholic Church demand the help of a priest who not only differed so much from a mainstream political conception of the world but who also received so much negative attention in his home country? Our hypothesis is that Lacordaire, despite being enveloped in political controversies throughout his life, shared the same priorities as an active portion of Canadian ultramontanes, notably establishing a Catholic resistance to the secular State and cultivating Catholic

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education among the growing bourgeois class. In order to examine the resolution of what appears to be a paradox, we would begin by defining the terms that today require an explanation or that have historically had different meanings. These terms are important since they are pivotal for the understanding of the subject in question. Then, we would examine the specific actors involved in the arrival of the Dominican Order to Canada and their individual motivations. Afterwards, we would examine the sociopolitical context of both Canada and France to understand the conditions in which the given actors were making their decisions regarding religion, politics and philosophy. Lastly, we would examine the historical realities which may have otherwise affected the arrival of the Dominican Order to Canada without being directly connected to the actors involved. Our conclusion would then synthesize the indicated elements to demonstrate how Lacordaire’s philosophy responds to the question of religion and irreligion. II. Definitions

Before proceeding to the analysis, we must first define our terms. The first of them would be ultramontanism, a worldview shared by Lacordaire and a large portion of Canadian Catholic bishops, including those interested in contacting French Dominicans. It began in France around the time of the Renaissance, rising to prominence in the mid to late XIX century. It opposed itself to Gallicanism, a movement seeking the “nationalisation” of ecclesial powers within a given country at the expense of the influence of the papacy [3]. Ultramontanism, on the contrary, would emphasize the supranational powers of the papacy, and later it would find itself equally opposed to newer political movements and ideologies, insisting instead on the

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III. Characters Involved in the Invitation of Dominicans to Canada

When it comes to the characters involved, Lacordaire would be the most significant figure. Born Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, he chose the name HenriDominique upon his entry into the Order of Preachers, otherwise known as Dominicans. Before entering the Order, he had a rather tumultuous career path. Born in 1802 into a very devout Catholic family that had a history of sheltering priests during the Revolution [6], he abandoned the faith during his adolescence, taking interest instead in the ideals of French Enlightenment [7]. This apostasy, something that Lacordaire saw as rather a common occurrence among the youth of his time, later had strongly persuaded him to focus on the instruction of the young. Described as an “atheist democrat”[8], upon becoming licensed as a lawyer, Lacordaire moved to Paris where he experienced a profound religious

conversion, leading to him joining the SaintSulpice Seminary. Despite worrying his superiors by his intellectual individualism and “turbulent” character [9], Lacordaire was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1827 [10]. Suspecting that the Gallican Archbishop of Paris was trying to purposefully confine him to “obscurity” [11], Lacordaire joined the intellectual community of Father HuguesFelicite Robert de Lamennais, whose voluminous ultramontane writings greatly irritated civil authorities in France [12]. Upon the establishment of a liberal constitutional monarchy of 1830, Lacordaire’s problems multiplied since the community began publishing the newspaper L’Avenir [fr. the future], advocating for freedom of teaching and freedom of religion [13]. Mostly aimed at resisting the policies of the new secular State, the publishers of L’Avenir troubled the Holy See with their liberal views and eventually had to retract them. However, soon after issuing a retraction, Lammenais abandoned Catholicism altogether for the sake of radical egalitarian republicanism [14], leaving a major stain on Lacordaire’s reputation. Lacordaire was given a chance to restore his reputation in the eyes of the episcopacy through his work of preaching, yet he preached sermons in schools and colleges with openly republican overtones, making references to the American and the French Revolutions, like saying that “the first tree of liberty was planted in the Garden of Eden by the hand of God”[15]. Despite high attendance at his sermons, Lacordaire was extremely unpopular among the Church hierarchy and eventually decided to retire to Rome, where he was rather warmly received by Pope Gregory XVI [16]. In Rome, he resolved on entering the Dominican Order and reestablishing it in France after almost 50 years of exile, a decision that the French bishops did not reject, but did not welcome either [17].

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implementation of Catholic teachings in every sphere of society [4]. Since the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France in 1815, ultramontanism, with Father Hugues-Felicite Robert de Lamennais as its visible leader, was considered a third option between Gallicanism espoused by monarchists and secularism espoused by egalitarian liberals [5]. The second term we must define is Canada in itself. Historically, the demonym “Canada” has held different meanings, and during the middle of the XIX century, the term “Canadians” applied largely to the French-speaking population. Due to this historical reality, we would refer to all actors from the New World as simply “Canadian” in order to avoid any confusion with the actors from France, since the parties on both continents share the French language and harken back to the same Catholic tradition.

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After this difficult decade, Lacordaire returned to France in the early 1840s [18]. Despite this rather rocky path, Lacordaire managed to save his friendship with Charles Montalembert, one of the original editors of L ’Avenir, who was a lay nobleman and a member of the Chamber of Peers during the Louis-Philippe regime. For over a decade, Montalembert continued to be Lacordaire’s close collaborator when it came to matters of Catholic education in France. Both of them shared an admiration for the AngloAmerican political tradition. Lacordaire went as far as to contrast the anticlerical French Revolution with the Christian impetus of the English Civil War [19]. On the other side of the Atlantic, Canadian ultramontanes found themselves mostly around Montreal, a city with a significant English Protestant presence in the sphere of commerce. The Archbishop of Montreal at the time, Ignace Bourget, was thus considered the leading figure of Canadian ultramontanism. The two characters who were directly involved in the arrival of Dominicans to Canada, Bishop Jean-Charles Prince and Father Jean-Sabin Raymond, at one point, were both working under Archbishop Bourget’s direction. Bishop Jean-Charles Prince was a former coadjutor, that is bishop-assistant, of Archbishop Bourget. Like his former superior, Bishop Prince actively leads his flock towards a greater alliance with the power of the Holy See; he personally traveled to Rome on behalf of the regional council of Quebec to request the creation of the diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe, of which he would become the first bishop [20]. Historian Jean-Jacques Robillard ascribes to Prince an exceptionally ardent interest in bringing good education to his faithful, boys and girls, on all levels, surpassing basic instruction - education thus became “one of the most urgent needs” of his episcopacy

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[21]. Moreover, Prince had encountered what could be described as political difficulties with civil authorities. In his attempts to redirect funds between parochial entities with his diocese to assure its successful growth, Bishop Prince was prevented from completing the transaction by a fiat of the Legislative Council, an unelected upper chamber of the Parliament of Canada, which is supposed to replicate the structure of the House of Lords [22]. Possibly as an aftermath of this decision, Prince decided to no longer seek government assistance in the creation of new schools [23]. This resistance towards the regime might have been one of the forces uniting in spirit Canadian and French ultramontanes. Moreover, before becoming a bishop, Prince closely followed Lacordaire’s work, including L’Avenir before its condemnation and Lacordaire’s rupture with Lammenais [24]. Another figure in question, Father Joseph-Sabin Raymond, was also a subordinate of Archbishop Bourget, and subsequently, upon the establishment of the diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe, became Bishop Prince’s grand-vicar [25]. Historian Robert Sylvain called Raymond “the first Canadian disciple” of Charles de Montalembert, whom we already mentioned as one of Lacordaire’s closest collaborators [26]. Not only was he in close correspondence with Lacordaire’s collaborators, outlining to him the position of ultramontanes in Canada, but was also able to travel to France to be present at Lacordaire’s sermon in Nancy in 1843, reintroducing the Dominican Order in France2 [27.] These travels to France were very frequent and went as far back as the late 1830s, possibly around the time of the unsuccessful Patriot Rebellion of 1837, a nationalistic uprising in a French-majority Lower Canada largely mirroring the spirit of American and French Revolutions [28]. Raymond contacted Lacordaire in 1852 [29]. In his next later letters, Raymond requested on behalf of his new bishop, Prince, the

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IV. Specifical Sociopolitical Context of

Canada and France

So the invitation of Dominicans to Canada was officially extended in 1855 by Bishop Jean-Charles Prince to his new diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe [34]. Like many ethnocultural minorities at this time of the century, Canadians tried to understand their path to nationhood. British authorities, like many other imperial forces of the time, had suppressed various rebellions aimed at establishing national self-determination, such as the abovementioned Patriot Rebellion in 1837. That uprising, largely taking place in the French-speaking part of the colony, had left a lasting imprint on the political imagination of Canadians. Many intellectual figures, such as George-Etienne Cartier, Louis-Hyppolite Lafontaine and others, envisioned the fulfillment of the national ambitions of Canadians through

measures of political and social liberalization, reliance on parliamentary elections and achieving a more egalitarian societal structure, often through political alliances with the English-speaking contingent of the colony. Both of them would become pivotal players in the creation of what would become the modern Dominion of Canada. Yet this view of acquiescing to the AngloAmerican standards was not universally accepted. Catholic Church in Canada was concerned about the spread of “English ideas of a purely material civilization” [35], as described by Raymond, to the detriment of political traditions stemming back to the days of New France, including the public presence of Catholicism. This concern was especially visible in the large urban centers like Montreal; the city at the time contained a significant anglophone presence coupled with the perceived negative moral influence of bourgeois newspapers coming from France [36]. The bourgeois class, however, was still largely underdeveloped in Canada as a whole. One illustration for that would be the naissant state of the lawyer’s craft when compared to France or the AngloAmerican world. French parliaments, which could be described as regional associations of lawyers and a pivotal instrument in the development of bourgeois class, never took hold in the New World. Before the British conquest of the late 1750s, colonial French authorities were attempting to implement all kinds of measures “to avoid, as much as possible, any reason for disagreement within the settlement”[37]. Christine Veilleux states that professional distinctions like “barrister” and a “solicitor” did not exist among Canadian lawyers [38]. The specialists who did practice law were only authorized to do so after receiving permission from the colonial governor until the middle of the XIX century [39]. Despite the discontentment that

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arrival of the order after a long discussion with the Master General of the Dominicans, whom himself was brought into the Order by Lacordaire [30]. Raymond, despite his desire to bring in the Dominicans, expressed to Lacordaire his fear of “insurmountable difficulties” for the Order’s arrival [31]. Little is known about other aspects of Raymond’s life, yet it is acknowledged that at the time when Prince and Raymond began to follow Lacordaire’s intellectual development through L’Avenir, SaintHyacinthe was becoming “the center of liberal thought in Canada”[32]. Both clerics were enthusiastic about the possibility of propagating the ideas of L’Avenir before the newspaper’s condemnation [33] This might suggest that Canadian ultramontanes did not shy away from political liberalism and even possibly saw parallels between their own situation and the political turmoils in contemporary France, making them desire greater institutional and mental unity with ultramontanes in France.

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Canadian ultramontanes experienced towards their civil officials, the latter did not seem to exert their dominance over the domain of education. In fact, in his letter to Montalembert, Raymond indicated that there are no declared hostilities in Canada against Catholic education [40]. He even went as far as saying that “the government had done almost nothing” when it comes to education in Canada, and the Catholic Church was confidently coming in to fill this void of activity [41]. Ultramontanes like Prince were directly involved in creating educational facilities. In 1853, he established College Saint-Mariede-Monnoir, shortly before the invitation to the Dominicans was extended. The college did not conform entirely to the standards of what became known as a classical college, the highest bar of secondary education in Catholic French Canada until the 1960s. The institution’s curriculum contained elements such as “matters pertaining to commerce and business”, seemingly aiming it at the formation of the area’s Catholic bourgeois [42]. The college was created in an eponymous municipality, Sainte-Marie-deMonnoir, a demographic center of the new diocese, even larger than Saint-Hyacinthe itself, about halfway between Montreal and Saint-Hyacinthe, making it accessible enough to the growing commer9ant population around the metropolis [43]. Considering that Dominicans are also a teaching order, one could see how inviting them to the diocese so focused on education would have been seen as a logical step. Considering a demographic and a cultural shift towards a bourgeois society, the situation in France was very similar. The constitutional monarchy of Louis-Philippe d’Orleans found itself leaning towards a monarchy styled more like a British constitutional system, but even among the upper echelons of power concerns were raised about the moral fabric of the country. Francis Guizot, a leading elected Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

official of his time and a Swiss Protestant, to his chagrin found the regime sliding “into stagnation, to mediocre materialism, [...] to immorality” of the current leadership, which often made him consider the merits that the ultramontane party was offering to France [44]. So great and unexpected were his sympathies to the ultramontanes that Guizot attended in person a famous sermon preached in 1841 by Lacordaire from the pulpit of Notre-Dame de Paris, La vocation de la nation frangaise [fr. the vocation of the French nation] [45]. The controversial sermon outlined the past, present and future of French Catholicism through the lens of a changing sociopolitical structure, specifically emphasizing the importance of the bourgeois class for the flourishing of the faith [46]. Lacordaire distinguished between French Catholicism before the Revolution and after the Revolution, the latter being purified by its suffering. He indicated that the religious of modern France, clergy and monastics, became the allies of the downtrodden, ushering in the renaissance of French Catholicism, especially when it came to education [47]. He declared that Catholicism in France improved since the fall of the Ancien Regime because “Christian charity” united the young, following the erasure of class divisions [48]. Lacordaire alluded to the stagnant regime of the day as “the bourgeoisie that rules over us”[49], admitting at the same time that “bourgeoisie, that is all of us”[50]. The growing domination of the bourgeoisie thus became in his own words not just as a force to be reckoned with, but a surprising reality and even a joyful opportunity. However, the situation surrounding education in France is entirely different. The question of State-provided public education and its possible coexistence with private, notably Catholic education, remained one of the most contested issues of the whole reign of Louis-Philippe [51]. Within La vocation de la nation frangaise, Lacordaire purposefully

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V. Additional Factors of the Arrival of

Dominicans to Canada

In addition to the context presented above, we ought to consider other forces that might have affected the arrival of Dominicans to Canada and the resolution of the paradox outlined in the beginning of our analysis. Among such events would be the fact that Dominicans were not the only French order invited to minister in North America at the time. Orders like Sulpicians, Oblates of Mary Immaculate and others had been arriving steadily to the New World to advance the growth of Catholicism both in Canada and in the United States. By the beginning of the 1840s, a great number of American bishops had been French clerics from the ultramontane circles, like Bishop Simon Brute of Vincennes in Indiana [54]. By the end of the decade, the newly created

diocese of Ottawa was lead by another French prelate, Bishop Joseph-Eugene Guigues, O.M.I.. So if examined from the viewpoint of trends emerging in North American Catholicism, inviting French congregations with a missionary zeal to minister to the growing population of the faithful was somewhat standard practice, and the personal philosophy of Lacordaire might not have had much to do with the arrival of Dominicans to Canada. Another significant consideration should be Lacordaire’s own career as a public figure. Despite being politically active his whole life, his most overtly political works were written towards the end of his life. For instance, his work defending both the temporal power of the papacy and the national unity of Italy, De la Liberte de I’Italie et de I’Eglise [fr. on the freedom of Italy and of the Church], was published in 1860 and became Lacordaire’s last publication [55]. Lacordaire’s praise for the Christian roots of the English Civil War wasn’t written until 1857, after most of his dealings with ultramontane Canada [56]. Similarly, his most famous defense of the United States would be pronounced upon his reception into the French Academy (a.k.a. Academie fran9aise) just shortly before his death in November 1861 [57]. Though his views were well known by this time in France, there seems to be no way to know whether Lacordaire’s admiration for American political tactics was known outside of France. Therefore, we could not confidently conclude how much Canadian ultramontanes knew about Lacordaire’s attachment to the Anglo-American tradition. Conclusion - Religion in the Growingly Irreligious World After a close inspection, it may seem that the similarities between Lacordaire and his Canadian colleagues might have outweighed the potential differences.

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touched the subject of Catholic education in France. He connected the rise of the bourgeoisie with the growing need for Catholic education, saying that bourgeoisie was becoming the main source of religious vocations in modern France, specifically for teaching orders like Societe Saint-Vincentde-Paul [52]. It is vert likely that Canadian ultramontanes were well aware of these tensions through their exposure to L ’Avenir and other French resources that were able to reach Canada. It is also very much possible that they were aware of this sermon, especially since it echoed the thesis that lived on in the Catholic circles in Canada well into the 1960s, “the providential conquest”, suggesting that the traditional authorities of France were divinely punished by the Revolution [53], but Canada, through British conquest, was spared of this punishment. Thus, in one sermon, Lacordaire seemed to have addressed the two problems that united Canada and France - the growing domination of the bourgeoisie and the desire to control the means of education.

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Canadian ultramontane scene seemed to have been more politically complex than initially presumed. More importantly, Canadian ultramontanes seemed to have been informed enough to follow the political troubles of XIX century France. If SaintHyacinthe was verily a centre of Canadian liberalism, Canadian ultramontanes around Montreal could have been equally more liberal in their politics, but also potentially sharing the same concerns as French ultramontanes. They would have been able to superimpose the French political climate upon themselves and predict that with the growing commercial class and the arrival of French bourgeois newspapers, the same anticlerical morays could have been getting rooted in Canada, something that needed to be countered with strong Catholic action. The difference would have been that Canadian ultramontanes would have sought the creation of a fully Catholic bourgeoisie instead of preaching to the secularized the way it had been done in France. An early focus on providing Catholic education, supplied by well-formed French intellectuals, like Lacordaire, would have helped prevent or at least delay the problems that plagued France. In addition to all the elements of the context outlined, we cannot conclude that Canadian ultramontanes would have been acquainted with the full scope of Lacordaire’s writings, including his works on poignant sociopolitical questions of the day which may have been more supportive of the Anglo-American system. Lacordaire’s work thus served to form a Catholic political philosophy on both sides of the Atlantic, among French shopkeepers and in the classical colleges of Canada. The heart of Lacordaire’s sermons, this via media of love for liberty and for the Universal Church, would eventually aid the rise of Catholic social teaching in the years to come. The specific case of collaboration between Canadian and French ultramontanes showcases a transformation Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

of the sociopolitical landscape together with a major cultural shift: in Europe, irreligion is no longer a fringe phenomenon of largely religious societies. Instead, irreligion, which is complete rejection of any religious practice or secularism, becomes a default position of not just societies, but states in themselves. France, a country that for centuries had a state religion was slowly becoming the country defined by secularism, a process that will only amplify in later XIX, XX and XXI centuries. In fact, Lacordaire’s generation was unique inasmuch as it was one of the first generations in France shaped by widespread irreligion, gradually returning to religion in their adult life. Canada in this respect was still a country that was broadly defined by the practice of Catholicism, and irreligion of the anticlerical French stripe was still a fringe, though a growing one. Yet the success of Lacordaire in secularized France manifested for concerned Canadian episcopacy that religion can return to prominence in a society that was becoming to define itself largely by irreligion. Lacordaire’s philosophy thus presented for them then and for us now a fascinating insight into the possibility of religion like Catholicism thriving in a context that progressively rejects religion. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author would like to thank François Charbonneau, an associate professor of political science in the University of Ottawa for his help in translating and editing this work. References [1]

[2]

[3]

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Louis Boulais et Luc Chartrand O.P., “L’arrivee des Dominicains au Canada”, Dominicains du Canada [online]. Marc Escholier, “L’Amerique, avant-garde des nations chretiennes”, Lacordaire : Dieu et la liberte, p. 229. Jean Delumeau, “Gallicanisme”, Encyclopedia

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Ibid. Ibid. [34] Ibid. [35] Robert Sylvain Op. cit., p. 102. [36] Ibid, p. 102. [37] Christine Veilleux, “Les avocats”, Les gens de justice a Quebec, 1760-1867, Universite Laval, 1990, p. 86. [38] Ibid, p. 86. [39] Ibid, p. 87. [40] Robert Sylvain, Op. cit., p. 102. [41] Ibid, p. 102. [42] Jean-Jacques Robillard, Op. cit., p. XVIII. [43] Ibid, p. 12. [44] Laurent Theis, Op. cit., p. 1053. [45] Ibid, p. 1053. [46] Ibid, p. 1053. [47] Reverend Father Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, O.P. Discours sur la vocation de la nation frangaise. Paris, 1841, p. 5. [48] Ibid, p. 6. [49] Ibid, p. 6. [50] Ibid, p. 6. [51] Laurent Theis, Op. cit., p. 1053. [52] Reverend Father Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, O.P. Op. cit., p. 6. [53] Ibid, p. 5. [54] Buechlein, Most Reverend Daniel, O.S.B. Reflections on the life and times of Simon Guillaume Gabriel Brute de Remur: Pioneer Scholar - Bishop of Vincennes as presented by Bishop Brute College Seminary. [55] Marc Escholier, Op. cit., p. 225. [56] Laurent Theis, Op. cit., p. 1056. [57] Marc Escholier, Op. cit., p. 229. [32] [33]

Bibliography [1]

[2]

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Boulais, Louis and Luc Chartrand, O.P. “L’arrivee des dominicains au Canada” [The Arrival of Dominicans to Canada], Dominicains du Canada. http://dominicains. ca/larrivee-des-dominicains-au-canada/. Buechlein, Most Reverend Daniel, O.S.B. Reflections on the life and times of Simon

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Universalis, [online] Nive Voisine, “Ultramontanisme”, L ’Encyclopedie canadienne. [5] Jules Racine St-Jacques, “Georges-Henri Levesque, Un clerc dans la modernite”, Boreal, Montreal, 2020, p. 48-49. [6] Marteau de Langle de Cary, Jean-Guy Monneret. “Il n’y a rien de certain !”. Prophete en son pays, Lacordaire. Apostolat de la Presse, Societe Saint-Paul, Paris, 1961, p. 13. [7] Ibid, p. 19. [8] Ibid, p. 21. [9] Ibid, p. 35. [10] Ibid, p. 37. [11] Ibid, p. 39. [12] Ibid, p. 43. [13] Ibid, p. 56. [14] Ibid, p. 69. [15] Ibid, p. 92. [16] Ibid, p. 115. [17] Ibid, p. 137. [18] Louis Boulais et Luc Chartrand O.P. Op. cit. [19] Laurent Theis, “Francois Guizot et Henri Lacordaire”, Commentaire, vol. numero 108, no. 4, 2004, p. 1056. [20] Jean-Jacques Robillard, Histoire du College Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir, 1853-1912, Universite d’Ottawa, 1980, p. 13. [21] Ibid, p. 14. [22] Ibid, p. 18. [23] Ibid, p. 21. [24] Louis Boulais and Luc Chartrand O.P., Op. cit. [25] Ibid. [26] Robert Sylvain, “Le premier disciple canadien de Montalembert : abbe JosephSabin Raymond (avec une lettre inedite)”. Revue d’histoire de I’Amerique frangaise 17 (1), 1963, p. 94. [27] Louis Boulais and Luc Chartrand O.P. Op. cit. [28] Rober Sylvain, Op. cit., p. 94. [29] Louis Boulais and Luc Chartrand O.P. Op cit. [30] Ibid. [31] Ibid. [4]

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Guillaume Gabriel Brute de Remur: Pioneer Scholar - Bishop of Vincennes as presented by Bishop Brute College Seminary. https:// bishopsimonbrute.org/our-namesake. [3] De Langle de Cary, Marteau and Jean-Guy Monneret. Prophete en son pays, Lacordaire. [Prophet in His Country, Lacordaire] Paris: Apostolat de la Presse, Societe Saint-Paul, 1961. [4] Delumeau, Jean. “Gallicanisme”, Encyclopedia Universalis, [online] https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/ gallicanisme/. [5] Escholier, Marc. Lacordaire : Dieu et la liberte. [Lacordaire: God and Liberty] Paris: Editions Fleurus, 1959. [6] Lacordaire, Reverend Father HenriDominique, O.P. Discours sur la vocation de la nation frangaise. [Speech on the Vocation of the French Nation] Paris, 1841. https:// catholicapedia.net/Documents/cahier-saintcharlemagne/documents/C271_Lacordaire_ vo cation-de-la-France 6p.pdf. [7] Racine St-Jacques, Jules. “Georges-Henri Levesque, Un clerc dans la modernite”. [Georges-Henri Levesque, a Cleric in the Modern Times] Montreal: Boreal, 2020. https://excerpts.numilog.com/ books/9782764626016.pdf. [8] Robillard, Jean-Jacques. Histoire du College Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir, 1853-1912. [History of the College of Sainte-Mariede-Monnoir, 1853-1912] University of Ottawa, 1980. https://www-proquest-com. proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/docview/303086078/ A0A7F31F6496442DPQ/9 ?accountid=14701. [9] Sylvain, Robert. “Le premier disciple canadien de Montalembert : abbe Joseph-Sabin Raymond (avec une lettre inedite)”. [The First Canadian Disciple of Montalembert: Father Joseph-Sabin Raymond (with an unedited letter)] Revue d’histoire de l’Amerique frangaise 17 (1), 1963, 93-103 https7/doi org/10 7202/302256ar [10] Theis, Laurent. “Francis Guizot et Henri Lacordaire”. Commentaire, vol. numero 108 (4), 2004, 1051-1060. https://doi-org.proxy. bib.uottawa.ca/10.3917/comm.108.1051.

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Veilleux, Christine. “Les avocats”. [Lawyers] Les gens de justice a Quebec, 1760-1867. Universite Laval, 1990. https:// www-proquest-com.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/ docview/303896989?accountid=14701. [12] Voisine, Nive. “Ultramontanisme”. L’Encyclopedie canadienne. https://www. thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/ ultramontanisme. [11]

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A Debate Concerning the Biblical Mode of Baptism

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Ilie Soritau, PhD

Theology department Emanuel University of Oradea Oradea, Romania

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 13 April 2021 Received in revised form 07 May Accepted 15 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.13

Baptism inaugurates a life that daily moves forward to a battle, confident that in each sorrow, there is a more vigorous expression of the presence of the risen Christ. Baptism warns the Christian that if he shares the same life, he must face the same struggle of life unto death so that life is eternally victorious. Recent events in the Romanian Orthodox Church regarding the baptism of infants by immersion have ignited a civil debate and much criticism. The issue of baptism and for that matter, the baptism itself is very important. For the believers especially this is important. However, no matter how important this is, one has to agree that it should never ever lead to division and hate. Unfortunately, it looks like nothing among believers can lead to disagreement more than such discussions about the role of baptism, the meaning of it, and of course, the methods used to perform the baptism. On the other hand, there should be an agreement that ignoring the problems raised by this issue will not solve it at all, but instead creating even more problems and further the gap among many Christians, ultimately. The fact that there is a possibility to discuss this important doctrine as part of a dialog among many denominations, among many religions it will prove the level of one’s maturity to “agree to disagree” with the main goal of learning always and know what to stand for and what is worth fighting for. When it comes to major doctrines special attention should be given to the text, making sure that there is a proper, correct, throughout exegesis as well as a very good lexical and syntactical study. The purpose of this research is to dig deep into the Bible and more specifically exegete the text found in The Gospel of Matthew chapter 3, from verses 13 to 17, then view its theological lessons followed by practical applications.

Keywords: baptism; Romanian Orthodox Church; dialogue; biblical exegesis; doctrine; theological analysis;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Ilie Soritau. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Soritau, Ilie. ”A Debate Concerning the Biblical Mode of Baptism.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 157-165. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.13

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I. INTRODUCTION

Recently, the Romanian Orthodox Church has come under scrutiny due to the death of an infant who had died shortly after the priest has performed that infant’s baptism. According to Daily Mail, „The Orthodox Church is facing growing pressure to change baptism rituals in Romania after a baby died following a ceremony, which involves immersing infants three times 1 in holy water.” In a Romanian Orthodox Church baptism, the baby is completely submersed in water three times in a row while the priest is meant to hold their nose to make sure they do not breathe in any water. Baptisms in Romania are large events, sometimes compared to weddings, often with hundreds of guests and a big party. More than 80 percent of Romanians are Orthodox and the Church is one of the most trusted institutions, according to recent opinion polls. Still, there was a major outrage of many Romanians who were calling for the Orthodox Church to reform its practice of baptism due to the safety of those who will administer the baptism as well as for the safety of those baptized. According to Euro Weekly News, „An online petition calling for the water immersion 1 www.dailymail.co.uk, accessed on March 2,

2021. The six-week-old suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital on Monday but he died a few hours later, the autopsy revealing liquid in his lungs. Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter probe against the priest in the northeastern city of Suceava. In a Romanian Orthodox church baptism, the baby is completely submersed in water three times in a row while the priest is meant to hold their nose to make sure they do not breathe in any water. Baptisms in Romania are large events, sometimes compared to weddings, often with hundreds of guests and a big party. More than 80 percent of Romanians are Orthodox and the Church is one of the most trusted institutions, according to recent opinion polls.

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tradition to be “ruled out” following the “huge tragedy” 2 has already received 56,000 signatures.” The debate over the doctrine of baptism is not new. Over the years, even centuries, it sparked many conversations, disagreements and debates. For every religion and for a correct approach to this doctrine, with dignity and civility is important to be able to listen to others and have the freedom to agree or disagree. For the Protestants and not only the Protestants, but the doctrine of baptism is also very important. However, no matter how important this is, one has to agree that it should never ever lead to division and hate. John Armstrong believes that “there are almost as many reasons for disagreement about baptism, as there are views and positions held by Christians on baptism.”[1] He goes on to say that “disagreement about baptism is not proof of rebellion, stupidity, or immaturity.”[1] II. Historical and Contextual

Background

The book of Matthew is traditionally ascribed to Matthew Levi, a tax collector or a publican whom Jesus called to be His disciple (Matthew 9: 9-13; Matthew 10:3, NIV). Like the other Gospel writers, Matthew did not mention himself as the writer of this book. It is interesting to see these men lived behind their message. Several of the early church fathers, men like Justin Martyr, Papias, Ireneus, and Origen, regarded Matthew as the author.[5] Since Matthew has been a rather obscure apostle, it would be strange for tradition to ascribe the book to him if he had not written it. There are also some indications within the book that point to Matthew as the real author. Both Mark and Luke refer to his surname Levi, as well as the apostolic 2 www.euroweeklynews.cm, accessed on March

2, 2021.

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in Palestine, and this purpose could only be fulfilled if the book had been written before A.D. 70. This is one of the two probabilities of where the book had originated. Another speculation that is placed on the origin is in Assyrian Antioch. The A.D. 50 to A.D. 70 date is still the most plausible of the several options. Another purpose, akin to the first, was to present Jesus Christ as the King of Israel in exact fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Matthew puts great emphasis upon Jesus’ royalty and His relationship to the kingdom. He tries to explain the kingdom program of God, the Great Commission. Speaking about the fulfillment of the prophetic past, the book of Matthew is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The baptism of Jesus is part of the fulfillments that are required for the messianic office. His baptism marks His official identification as the Divine – Human Messiah by the Father and His initial introduction to the believing remnant. This ended His period of obscurity and thrust Him into His public ministry. According to Bruce Metgzer, it was early in A.D. 27 when Jesus came up to John, his cousin because He wanted to be baptized. [14] Up to this time, Jesus had been in the carpenter shop at Nazareth. When He came, He was approximately thirty years of age. This event occurs to mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, but “we are never told why this event should mark the beginning of His ministry.”[2] III. Lexical and Syntactical Study

Matthew 3:13 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” Matthew stressed Jesus’ intention to be baptized and prepares in this way the following discussion. The arrival of Jesus is announced in the same terms as the

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name, Matthew (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27, NIV). Matthew did not include this double identification, probably because his readers doubtless knew his identity. According to Mark, the testimonial dinner was held in “his house,” speaking of Matthew’s (Mark 2:15, NIV). Luke said that Levi prepared for the feast in “his own house” (Luke 5: 29, NIV). The omission of the possible pronoun “his” would argue that the readers are familiar with the fact that the dinner was in his house because he had told them about that personal experience. Also, there is another thing that attests to the fact that Matthew is the author of this book. The use of the monetary terms reflects his secular background as a tax collector. According to Gromacki, there are “three words for money not found elsewhere in Scriptures.”[5] Interestingly, this is the only Gospel to contain the account of Jesus’ payment of the Temple tax (Matthew 17:24-27, NIV). Also, there is the testimony of others such as Eusebius, who said that Papias recorded the fact that Matthew took notes in Aramaic, and later someone translated. It was someone who knew Aramaic and was familiar with the Jewish culture and, in fact, was a Jew. All of these little details add up to a strong internal and external confirmation of the traditional view that Matthew, the publican, tax collector turned apostle, composed this book. What can be said is that no one can be dogmatic regarding the time and place. There is no Scriptural solution to the geographical and chronological background of the book. Most evangelicals, though, set the date of writing in the middle of the first century between A.D. 50 and A.D. 70, placing as the limits the first dispersion of the Jewish Christians and the destruction of Jerusalem (Acts 8:4; Matthew 24, NIV). The book was designed for Jewish readers living

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appearance of John. The same verb in the aorist παραγενετο is used for the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem. This appears to carry a certain atmosphere of formality and solemnity, sometimes of an appearance before a king or a judge, sometimes of the coming of God. It is not evident the exact time to which the word “then” refers. It may be that Matthew uses this just to show the general sequences of the events, or it may be that it probably means “at the height of John’s baptizing activity.” Also, it is not clear to which side of the Jordan River that Jesus went to be baptized on — the North or South. One thing is clear, though. Jesus came to John to be specifically baptized by him, as indicated by the aorist passive infinitive του βαπτισθηναι, which emphasizes the purpose. Matthew 3:14 “But John tried to deter him, saying ‘I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?” In other words, John’s reaction was trying to prevent Jesus from being baptized. John cannot baptize the One who is stronger and who will, in the future, bear the spirit and will baptize with fire. Baptism of John was for confession of sin and repentance of which he needed, but Jesus had no sins to confess or need for forgiveness. The Greek word here is διεκωλυεν and suggests a continued effort by John to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him. The verb also is a compound whose prepositional prefix δια intensifies it. John’s attempt to prevent Jesus from being baptized is, therefore, a testimony to Jesus’ sinlessness. “I need to be baptized by you” is an acknowledgment of the fact that Christ is better qualified than John to administer the baptism of repentance. Matthew 3:15 “Jesus replied: ‘ Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill our righteousness. ‘ Then, John consented.” “Let it be so now,” makes an exception so that Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

John can baptize Jesus. Christ knew who He was, God Himself, in human nature, and He knew that John realized who He is. Still, He says “now,” in other words, permitted just at this time. This was an idiom meaning that the act of baptism, though not seemingly appropriate, was indeed necessary for this particular time. Jesus assured the prophet, John, that, “it is proper” and went on to explain both of them to him that His baptism (Jesus’) was important for both of their ministries, “for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The expression “to fulfill all righteousness” is characteristic of Matthew. δικαιοσυνη is a key term to Matthew. What does it mean? This word is identical with δικαιωμα, and it means a requirement of law which is to be fulfilled. As far as the content is concerned, this probably does not refer only to the Old Testament law, in which the baptism of John is not commended, but in a more comprehensive sense to the entirety of the divine will. Πασα δικαιοσυνη also points to “all righteousness” as not being special righteousness of the Son of God to be fulfilled by Jesus, but “all that is righteous.” All righteousness does not consist of the baptism of John but later belongs to it. The sentence receives a pragmatic character: Jesus, obedient to the will of God, becomes the prototype and example of the Christians. Matthew 3:16 “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.” The Greek word βαπτιζω means literally to dip an object into water or other liquid, not to have the liquid put on the object. John baptizing into the Jordan and his custom was to baptize where “there was much water,” which would have been pointless if only sprinkling were used (Matthew 3:6; John 3:23, NIV).

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the requirements. IV. Theological Analysis

The baptism of Jesus is one of the most compelling theological problems to analyze. For example, even from the beginning, opinions are divided whether all the Gospels are recorded in their content or only the Synoptic Gospels. So, many believe and consider it recorded in all four of them and to others in only three, respectively, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. There are so many different things that can be picked out from all the passages that relate to the baptism of Jesus in the Gospels. Matthew presents the dialogue between Jesus and John, while Mark and Luke make an omission. Because Jesus believed that John was the bearer of a Godgiven message, He went to him and sought baptism. This act of Jesus caused concern in the church from a relatively early date. For the Matthew readers, the fact that Jesus had been baptized by someone believed to be “lesser” than himself, became an increasingly important factor as time went on and as John the Baptist emerged in opposition to the early church, according to Kee and Young.[11] Another implication is not just the fact that John was “lesser” but even saying that Jesus and John were equal. The expression “both to fulfill” to many was a wrong saying that John and Jesus were equal, in fulfilling the way or preparing the way for the one, for the messianic office. For one, who would himself later baptize others in the Holy Spirit, such action was wholly unexpected, and it became, in fact, a stone of stumbling to many in the Christian church. For many, the fact that He identified with sinners, He with no sin, was a problem. According to Saunders, this experience has been judged by many scholars to represent a faith— legend developed from some inaugural

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“Jesus went up out of the water,” indicates that He had been submerged in the water. My interpretation of saying that he went up from somewhere down and then out, not having a second step in these moves. “Heavens were opened.” This was not merely a subjective experience in the heart of Jesus. It was a miracle, occurring in full view of all who were present there with John and Jesus. “Spirit of God descending like a dove.” There is the Holy Ghost under the symbolism as a dove. It may be that a dove was used to represent purity and graciousness that characterizes the Spirit and, therefore, Christ Jesus. Also, we have to remember that the dove was the only bird to be accepted in the Levitical sacrifices. Christ did not lose His divinity. He was still fully God in every way of His life. The work of the Spirit at that time was to anoint Him in His humanity to prepare Him for the ministry. It was the anointing that was necessary so that anyone could see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the great king. There is no record of any type of event in which the Holy spirit ever anointed one in such a marvelous, unique way. Matthew 3:17 “And a voice from heaven said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The verbal adjective “beloved,” αγαπετοσ connotes a deep, valuable, and profound relationship. It is used here to describe the Father’s great love for His only Son. Jesus is the beloved of God, the Father, above all that He loves, the beloved apart from whom no other could be so loved. It is so clearly presented for us to see that He speaks as being the Father. “In whom I am well pleased.” The Greek does not mean “with whom I am delighted” but “in whom my pleasure rests.” This may be an answer or appreciation from God’s heart. The Father’s heart to the perfect obedience of Christ to humble Himself, preparing Himself for the fulfilments of all

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event of Jesus’ ministry intended to validate the Christian conviction that Jesus is the Messiah.[17] In any event, the assertion that John baptized Jesus was certainly not invented by the early church. There were perplexity and embarrassment enough to explain how the one they claimed the Messiah, could have submitted to a washing signifying repentance and the forgiveness of personal sinfulness. Only Mark is untroubled by this act. John’s Gospel omits any description of the event. Luke reduces the notation to a single participle “being baptized” (Luke 3:21). Matthew inserts an obscure explanation intended to guard against any charge that Jesus came with sinners to acknowledge His own need for Divine mercy. In the Gospel of Mark, there is no identification of these problems. In Matthew, on the other hand, John hesitates to baptize Jesus and tries to prevent Him from being baptized, saying: “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Matthew has Jesus explain why he is being baptized — “for this it fits for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). In other words, Jesus was baptized because of God’s will declared by John himself. “To fulfill all righteousness” is to leave nothing undone, which God had to be shown to be His will. Here it is understandable that personal repentance is absent. The Gospel of John shows further development in the tradition (John 1:28-34, NIV). The author uses the baptism narrative primarily to announce publicly who Jesus is: “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Only John introduces Him in the scene with this affirmation. In describing the baptism, the Gospel of Mark says: “And He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending like a dove, and a voice came from Heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, with thee I am well

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pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11, KJV). In these words recorded in Mark, we have an account of the way the early Christians described Jesus’ anointing by God for His messianic office. We can affirm that because all the passages recorded God’s voice, this baptism was one of consecration, anointing, and divine approval. From this moment on, he set out on the path of messianic ministry that culminated on the cross. Mark reports the voice from heaven spoke directly to Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew changes the account somewhat by having the voice speak out to Jesus personally as in Mark, but to the assembled crowds. Another interesting thing seen here is the fact that only Luke records Jesus’ prayer while coming out of the water (Luke 3:21, NIV). This saying “that opening the heavens and the Holy Spirit coming down as the dove” was the answer to His prayer. By the way, all the Synoptic Gospels recorded the accounts when God’s voice was heard. The occasion is reminiscent of the first exodus. After the Israelites had cleansed themselves, God came down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people (Exodus 19:11, NIV). As Israel’s eschatology centered around the hope for a second Exodus, the prayer for God to “come down” once more in grace became a familiar one. The hope that God would “open the heavens and come down” was associated with a prayer for the renewed activity of the Spirit of God (Isaiah 64:1, NIV). For many, there is a theological problem that has been around for a long time: whether the form of baptism was immersion or sprinkling. In Matthew, the author is using the Greek word ανεβη which means “immediately he came up.” This simply means that the previous move was under the water. He was immersed in the water. Mark is the one who helps to understand better what form of baptism was applied.

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Conclusion and Application An understanding of Jesus’ baptism is necessary for an understanding of Christian baptism. Jesus’ baptism was a baptism of the divine will, to fulfill all righteousness; it

was also a baptism of Messianic revelation. Jesus gave baptism a divine significance immersing it in the fullness of God’s revelation to humanity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism is seen as involvement in the death of Christ and as the anointing with the spirit. Christ saves me through His ministry, which is inaugurated by His death and yet which was already foreshadowed in His baptism by John. He incorporates us into His new people and being placed in this new relationship, and we thereby have to live as new men. Baptism inaugurates a life that daily moves forward to a battle, confident that in each sorrow, there is a more vigorous expression of the presence of the risen Christ. Baptism warns the Christian that if he shares the same life, he must face the same struggle of life unto death so that life is eternally victorious. In the baptism I took part in, I buried and died to my own sin, my own self, and when I came out, I began as a new man, a new life, a spirit-filled life. To Christ, the words of baptism showed a fulfillment of the Scriptures, and that is to everyone who will be baptized or already have been baptized. Christ showed himself forth, acknowledging the need, and there was no shame. He came from afar shows the devotion that He had to accomplish to do the will of the Father. Jesus gave baptism significance for the coming church as expressive of and witnessing to the fullness of God’s revelation in the lives of the community of the redeemed. Even though the present approach to baptism for this article has a Baptist tradition behind it, the bottom line is that Christians especially should work hard at overcoming disagreements over the issue of baptism. Once there is a general agreement over nature, purpose, meaning, the mode or method used should belong to every denomination and therefore no one should interfere in any denomination’s affairs.

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In chapter one, verse nine “was baptized” is the Greek word βαπτιζω, which means to immerse one thing into water or another liquid. We have John, who baptizes where “there is much water.”[14] This is saying that it is not necessary to have a lot of water if there is only sprinkling.[14] Citing George Beasley-Murray, Thomas Nettles, a Baptist historian, says that “the meaning of the word baptize is to immerse, dip, submerge and despite assertions to the contrary, it seems that baptizo, both in Jewish and Christian contexts, normally meant ‘immerse,’ ad that even when it became a technical term for baptism, the thought of immersion remains.”[15] Renowned theologian Wayne Grudem believes that the translation “immerse” is not only appropriate but “is required in several New Testament passages.”[6] Using the Gospel of Mark, Grudem argues that “people who were baptized by John ( the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, verse 5 ) were baptized ‘in’ the Jordan River and not ‘besides,’ or ‘by’ or ‘near’ the Jordan River, because the Greek text has ‘en’ translated very well as ‘in’ “[6] and this makes it sufficient and self-explanatory. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verse 10, Grudem says the expression ‘he came up out of the water ‘ in the original Greek it uses the word ‘ek’ which is translated ‘out of’ ad this implies not coming away from the water.[6] Wayne Grudem believes that “ the fact that John and Jesus went into the river and came up out of it strongly suggests immersion since sparkling or pouring of water could much more readily have bee done standing beside the river, particularly because multitudes of people were coming for baptism.”[6]

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What has happened to Felix Manz should never be repeated. On a cold winter day, January of 1527 to be more exact, Manz a Swiss Protestant pastor was put to death by drowning in the Limmat River, not far from the Munster Cathedral in Zurich, because he refused the idea of infant baptism.3 The question stands: if this incident happened in the sixteenth century, will this happen again? God forbid! Bibliography [1] John Armstrong, Understanding Four Views on Baptism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Press, 2007. 11 [2] Barker, W. Glen, William Lane and J. Ramsey Michaels. The New Testament Speaks. New York: Harper—Row Publishers, 1969. [3] Craig Blomberg. Matthew - The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992 [4] France, R.T. Mathew- Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. England: Intervarsity Press, 1985 [5] Gromacki, Robert. New Testament Survey. 3 During the Swiss Reformation, the group

called Radical Reformes or Anabaptists, believed strongly that personal faith before baptism is necessary. The fact that they eliminated all traditions and embraced biblical authority was sufficient to them to help them in forming new ideas in regard to believer’s baptism, holy living and separatrion of church and state. They looked at the biblical authority as the source of their new beliefs. Even though initially Ulrich Zwingli, the leader of the Swiss Reformation, was in favor of some of their ideas, including the believers’s baptism, he later changed his view. After two meetings with the Anabaptists, Zwingli ordered that they should be imprisoned at first and then to be drowned if they will continnnue to believe and pursue this new method of baptism. In March 1526, believers like Felix Manz and two otherfs were victims of Zwingli’s sentence.

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Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974. [6] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994 [7] Guthrie, Donald. The New Bible Dictionary. Scotland: Banner of Truth, 1988. [8] Heinze, Rudolf. Reform and Conflict: Grand Rapids: Baker Books Press, 2005. [9] Hendriksen, William. The Gospel of Matthew, New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973. [10] Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary: Matthew to John. Virginia, McLean: McDonald Publishing Corporation. [11] Kee, Clark Howard, and W. Franklin Young. Understanding the New Testament. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice— Hall, 1959. [12] MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1985. [13] Marvin, R. Vincente. Word Studies in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1946. [14] Metzger, M. Bruce. The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1965. [15] Thomas J. Nettles, Understanding Four Views on Baptism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Press, 2007), 26. [16] Robertson, Thomas Archibald. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1930. [17] Saunders, W. Ernest. Jesus in the Gospels. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1967. [18] Tasker, R. V. G. Tyndale Bible Commentaries, Gospel to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1961. [19] Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons Publishing, 1985 [20] The Greek New Testament 4th Edition.

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Biography

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Dr. Ilie Soritau was born in Arad County, Romania, in September 1968. He has a M.Div. in theology with biblical languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina (1999), and a Ph.D. in theology from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania (2012). He was an adjunct professor of homiletics for six years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas (2006-2012). Also, he has taught from 1999 to the present day at Emanuel University of Oradea. He currently serves as Vice President and Chief Librarian of Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania. He has coauthored multiple articles with Dr. Ioan Pop on “Transdisciplinary Perspective Through the Synergistic Communication on Faith in the Seven Letters of Revelation” as well as “The Mankind between Bethel and Ai, a Synergistic Contextual Communication Model on Faith.” He has co-authored a book with Dr. Ciprian Simuț: “Reformarea mântuirii, Volumul 1, Repere soteriologice în teologia reformatorilor din Anglia și Europa continental în secolele XVI și XVII” (Oradea, Romania: Editura Universității Emanuel din Oradea). Dr. Soritau is a member of The Evangelical Theological Society and the Homiletical Society. He serves on the Council of the Romanian Baptist Union and a co-founder of the Family Advisory Council at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Ft. Worth, Texas.

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Saint Clement’s debate on Time and Eternity as a manifest for the Postmodern Spirituality Ionuț Vlădescu, PhD.

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Doctoral Theological Faculty of Oradea University Suceava Romania

ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 22 March 2021 Received in revised form 14 April 2021 Accepted 05 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.14

Keywords: religion; science; spirituality; time; eternity; spirituality; eschatology;

ABSTRACT

This paper wants to be an answer to nowadays’ paradigm of thinking. Contemporary views in the philosophy of time are traditionally categorized into presentism, (live the moment) which regards only the present as real and eternal, and assigns present reality equally to the past, present, and future. As we will notes in the paper the patristic debate of time and eternity provides a very close answer as modern thinking time philosophy to the questions: What is time? What is eternity? Both answered are considering “Today” as crucial bud the patristic view of “Today” as ontological salvation and the modern view consider “Today” hedonistic. Time is given to the world only as a fleeting interval to prepare it for perfection and unchanged in eternal life. But this situation of the world in time, or its endowment with change in the review of perfection, implies that it is not of any fundamental essence or any other essence, for, in this case, it could not move towards perfection, but is created from nothing, by a personal Creator forever perfected, who planted her aspiration for him through its perfection of His power, or from the ever-increasing communion with Him. The Christian approach of time philosophy is the answer to the lost soul’s spirituality, scared by the temporal events of life like Covid 19.

Copyright © 2021 Ionuț Vlădescu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Vlădescu, Ionuț. ”Saint Clement’s debate on Time and Eternity as a manifest for the Postmodern Spirituality.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 23931744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 166-177. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.14

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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I. Introduction

II. Logos, time and eternity

Clement’s study on time and eternity relies on stoic cosmology, platonic speculation, as well as the Apocrypha of the New Testament and other Gnostic writings. In order to build a new understanding of Christian eschatology, he attaches particular importance to the primary purposes of Christian eschatology, to its interpretation, and he adapted the main ideas in his works particularised to his auditor. Clément’s Stromata [4] is a cultural program for Greek philosophers, to show that only the Gnostic Christian are indeed conquering. Clement argues that the phrase “breath of life” corresponds to human reason and alludes to the common notions of philosophy and teaching. Obviously, the meaning that Clement gives to the phrase “breath of life” refers to the doctrine of the Logos. But Clement does not fit into Docetism, the distinction between Logos and the Soul, made it in a blurred manner. We can remark a kinship between Logos the Son of God and the human mind, which is why some Greek philosophers were able to attain a clear idea of the first principle or discovered several concepts that are considered a reflection of eternal truth, due to the divine element in them.[5] Logos Doctrine depends in Clément’s case on the Meta-philosophy of Philon of Alexandria more than other apologists like Justin the Martyr and the Philosopher. For Clement, Logos represent the mind of God, containing His ideas, ideas that are nothing but the thoughts of God. As in Plotinus’s opinion,

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Clement Alexandrine, also known as Titus Flavius Clement, was born around 150 in Athens. Some scholars claim that he was born in Alexandria, but the style in which he writes and his culture reinforces our conviction that he was born in Athens. He came from a pagan family, and his writings entitle us to believe that he was an initiator of the mysteries of the Eleusine. Clement was blessed with a chosen philosophical preparation. It is not known whether or not Clement was a priest, but it is known for sure that he was a high official of Alexandria, where he held a free classic. [1] Clements’s work in Alexandria is very extensive and profound, his desire was to be understood by his auditors and catechumens, as an authentic scholar, interested in the thinking and beliefs of his contemporaries. His opera includes the following works: “Word to the Greeks” or “Protreptic”, structured in XII chapters, “The Pedagogue”, consisting of three books, “Stomates” or “The Carpets”, structured in eight books, The Homily entitled “How rich will he be saved?”, “Excerpts from Theodate” and prophetic extracts. Added to this are several lost writings. [2] Clement of Alexandria’s theological and philosophical position has always been difficult to frame, being the first representative of the Alexandrian tradition of Greek Christian Culture. It is known that Clément’s teaching in Alexandria arose shortly after Athanor of Athens, but it is difficult to specify precisely the relations between the philosophy of one and the philosophy of the other. This is confining us to affirm that Clement certainly looked and took into account the speculations of Athenagoras, but also the work of Saint Justin, and St. Tatian. He is also the first theologian with the highest authority to support ontological time that is the Saviour Jesus Christ who revealed the true philosophy.

which, is representing a fulfillment of what the thinking of philosophers had previously intuited. He is characterized by a radical Hellenistic mentality trying to standardize the Christian Faith to fit with the ideas of foreign philosophers. This is the reason why his writings were classified as having an exclusively apologetic purpose. [3]

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the Logos represents both the intellect and the source of the existence of ideas. Since the ‘Logos’ encompasses all of God’s ideas, and because ideas are models in accordance with the sensitive things created, the Logos can be considered as a tool that God used in the creation of the world, but also a principle of things created. [6] Clement tends to define Christian life by referring more to personal development than to eschatological crisis, convinced of the importance of control and discipline in order to achieve human ideals, which is why he believes that the true believer has the opportunity to learn perfection, understanding the different nuances and aspects of life, both in eternity and in time. Clement believes that the “true gnostic” that accompanies Christian virtue with teaching, working faith, and contemplative life can attain a high level of freedom, reaching a level of self-belief and self-training. Thus, the death of the body is considered a passage to the better, but also a “liberation to the Lord”. So, death will never take the Christian by surprise. Thinking in this way, Clement Alexandrine lived in the world as a pilgrim and traveler. [7] According to the Alexandrian thinker, the history of civilization is built by a divine plan made up of different stages containing more or less divine intervention, through Logos, for Jewish history, and by inferior powers, for Greek history. He concludes that full revelation has been achieved in Christ, although an overview of the world is not yet outlined, yet the idea that eschatology is connected to history is emphasized. Clement underlines the important role of Greek philosophy in the history of humanity in preparing the Greeks to receive the Christian revelation, which he considers gnosis and true philosophy.[8] The doctrine of the Logos appears in Clément’s thinking mainly because of Greek spirituality and culture. Clement shows that

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the one who made the world is God, by His will, fighting the idolatrous heathens who worshipped the stars, the sun, or the moon. Clement states that through Logos, all things have been ordained, and power has taken it from the soul of his mouth. [9] Clement speaks in Stromata, influenced by Plato, about two months: one sensitive and the other intelligible, the first attributes it to the monad, and the second to the hexane. The monad encompasses the unseen sky, the undefined earth, and the intelligible light (I do 1,1-3). Clement, in the cosmogony, argues that God makes the sky strong, and the light and the earth visible. Clement believes that the divine and royal Logos is the image of God, reflected in the unsparing man, and the face of the face is the human mind. [10] Therefore, we know that we are not in possession of the work written by Clement which he designed at the beginning of the fourth Stromata, we do know that it should have contained references to the problems related to the creation and origin of the world. [11] Clement debates the question of the origin of the world, takes into account the teaching of Genesis, he is not superficially looking at the biblical text, but he resorts to his interpretation according to the tradition already inaugurated by Filo. The creation of the world is interpreting the act of creation in line to the contemporary vision of MedioPlatonism [12] When he speaks of the creation of the world, Clement states that it was created when time did not exist. Basing his statement on various quotations from the Book of Creations, highlighting the inaccuracy and indeterminacy of the words relating to time. Clement, it is clear that the light, the sky, and the earth, which is spoken of to us in the Book of Creation, are only the intangible patterns of seen realities, which we cannot perceive. This interpretation is in line with Filo’s interpretation of the Book

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of the World, claiming that the material world is indicated by “firmament”, which is characterized by the fact that it is solid. Therefore according to Clement’s thinking, the sensitive world represents an image of the intelligible world. [13] III. Patristic approach to Hellenistic

Patristic thinking has harmonized inspired two completely complementary positions, one of the Scriptures the other of Greek philosophy, which conceives the Divine as still and steady. The two ways of thinking meet in the teaching of divine nature and energies: by His nature, God remains still but He manifests Himself in the world through His energies. This dichotomy has been perpetuated to this day in the West, Catholic and Protestant theology trying to overcome God’s conception as a still essence. The unity between God’s unchangeability as a perfect Being and at the same time His character as a living Person gives the perspective that connects God’s eternity and our human life over time. Eternity cannot hold on to the unchangeability of a perpetual substance subsistent by itself because such eternity cannot be one of the Person who is inexhaustible by its interiority, it is a source of continuous novelty [15]. The Platonic or Kantian terms of pure reason, or those of an eternal substance, can never be sufficient, for eternity, therefore the true eternity is that of the Holy Trinity. Following the revelation, the Church Fathers did not understand God abstractly, as the Eternal Essence, as is the case of Plato with Aristotle, but as the Person and Trinity of Holy Persons. The concern of the Greek Fathers was not primarily to solve the difficult philosophical problems of the ontologises of time and eternity, but the eschatological character of existence in anticipation of Parousia. They were led

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philosophy of time.

to the only essential question formulated as a model by Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “To understand how He who is always present in time, determent history and eternity.”[16] The reverse of this question is the laity of cyclical time. Revelation imposes an irreversible time because the hierophants manifested in time are no longer repeatable. Christ lived once, once was crucified and resurrected. I like to suggest that not every temporal moment catches eternity, but only the “favorable moment”, the moment transfigured by a revelation. (whether this “favorable moment” is called kairos or not). [17] The question of becoming and its relationship with the establishment has already been put into Greek philosophy. The fact that everything is constantly changing has led Heraclid to pessimism. Classical philosophy will stop its thinking of this idea: God is immutable, and therefore even in history we must seek what remains, what is eternal. Such a philosophy is therefore not historical. It lies outside the world, calling itself “philosophia perennis”. In the Holy Scripture, on the contrary, salvation is historical and revealed in history. It is the answer for spiritual people who are not looking for a God— an immutable idea, but a personal relationship with God the Father, which is gradually discovered. Christians could not receive the idea of the eternal cyclical return of the cosmos affirmed by archaic cultures, nor the abstract immobility of the divine world, the result of philosophical speculations on the Absolute Being. [18] Greek philosophy opposed time and eternity as opposed to the illusion of the real. The philosophical theory, therefore, expresses the effort to escape the temporal condition of this life. Christian practice is, on the contrary, by “historical” excellence, related to the coming of Christ into the flesh, currently engaged. But it leads to theory, it

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revalued time, tying it tightly to eternity. The lack of historical perspective in theology manifests itself in a certain tendency to reduce the mystery of the Church. To empty of any “event” of the world or to take Christianity as a moral system, and not as an “active eternal divine force”. Florovski attributes [19] great value to the historical character of the Christian conception of the world concerning the Greek conception. For Greeks everything about time is an inferior reality; time is alien to creativity, it knows only cycles, periodic repetitions of the past. In the Christian conception, time is not a circle, but a line, having a beginning and an end. The historical process is something unique in time, full of creative acts that determine the destiny of the human person. [20] The icon of salvation, therefore, takes on two inseparable aspects: history in time and dimension of eternity. This is the mystery of Christ, the Eucharist, the Mass, the Church, and the whole cosmos which is a progressive realization of an “uncreated and creative reality”; and when it turns to its primary cause, the world is “in a certain sense created continuously” The purpose of spiritual life is, therefore, to live in history and to transfigure time, to perceive the eternal in time. “Because eternity is not something, but Someone, or rather the life of love of the Three Persons”.[21] IV. The meaning of the ontological time

Regarding the problem of time, Clement states that the world would have had a beginning and that this idea was taken from Moses by Greek philosophy, a loan that was intended to prepare the Greek world for the Christian message, considered the true gnosis, appreciating that the Spirit-inspired philosophers, just as it inspired the prophets of the Old Testament, likening the prophets to Plato or Pythagoras. Regarding the time of the events at the end of the world, related Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

to the second coming of Christ, Clement describes them at the end of his notes concerning the New Testament, showing that at that time Christians will reach a happy life in heaven and in a contemplative state with angels, resembling, right here on earth, angels, and shining like the sun. Clement shows that the Gnostics’ love for God has the power to transform their faith, enabling them, through the things they desire, not to yet anticipate hope through knowledge, because the future, through love, is for the Gnostics already present. In the private notes and in the esoteric writings appear, under the name Stromatous, the thoughts of Clement Alexandrian about spiritual unheated, about eternal bliss, along with the endeavor to obtain possible mystical anticipation of them.[22] In “Which Rich Will Be Saved?”, Clement speaks of future life, showing that “angels will receive those who repent with bright faces by singing to them and opening their heavens.” Also, in this sermon, he shows the ephemerality of things and the eternity of the future age by saying, “...” what is seen is fleeting, and those which are not seen are eternal” (2Cor 4,18); in the present time, everything dies quickly and is uncertain, and “in the age to be is eternal life” (Mc. 10, 39)”.[23] Clement, in “Word of Urge to the Hellenics” pleads against the deity of creation, showing that time, years, months, or days are not gods, and therefore should not be given adoration. Also, here, he shows that today, at the end of the world, will be a continuous present, like an eternity, saying that the day is in fact a symbol of light. [24] In the first book of the Pedagogue, Clement distinguishes between the notion of time and that of eternity, comparing them to the beginning and the end. More specifically, he points out that the beginning is represented by faith, which is born in time, whereas the end is the acquisition for

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form of temporal, or changing, existence. And since neither her appearance in time nor her end in time could give it, nor will she be able to give it to herself, they must come from the personal existence of supreme power and perfection, untimeliest, unchanged. For unchanged in its positive meaning implies the boundless fulness of existence. The plenary being is unchanged not in extreme poverty of existence, but for its fulness, beyond which it can no longer move forward, but has in it all the fulness and joy of it. In understanding the meaning of timerelated to the world, it must be taken into account that at its origin and at its end lies an eternal existence and that it depends in its duration of that existence, as a way to it. But reached in God, it will have, thanks to the natural ‘monades’ of the One in which it has arrived, a pure stability in motion and an identical stable movement, performed around the same One and Only... The mystery of Pentecost is therefore the direct union of those who come with Providence, that is, the union of nature and the Word through the work of Providence, a union in which neither time nor becoming is shown.”[28] Thus, the Saints reached the heights of perfection live through the work of grace more intensely the closeness of eternity and the end of time, live eschatologically the present moment. We thus come to the distinction between kairos, the new time brought by Christ, that of living in God, which allows us to live authentically the moment, and Cronos, a time of the world, monotonous and linear. The Kairos moment recapitulates the past, but in an eschatological perspective (and thus the past, the present, and the future unites), while the inner temporal moment is separated from the past and the future, it synthesizes in a monotonous way a linear present. In fact, a genuine time problem can only be addressed in the eschatological

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an eternity of the fulfillment of the promise. Similarly, it is expressed in Stromata II, when he talks about Christian vines, showing that for the Gnostic, time and faith are twofold, the past time corresponding to his memory, and the future, his hope. Time must be valued to search for and learn the truth, and not in concerns of delight. The same exhortation, the Alexandrian thinker, gives it to us in the Third Book of the Pedagogue, in the address “IV. Who to hang out with.”[25]? Sweeping the text from Ezekiel 44, 9-10, in which the sanctity of the Levitt’s is spoken of, showing that priests are not allowed to touch the dead, but only to enter the house of the father, mother, son, or daughter when they died, and that they must cleanse themselves seven days after entering the house of the deceased’s relative, he resembles the seven days of cleaning with the seven days of creation, also showing the importance of the Sabbath day as the day on which the highest rest is restored, as well as the greatness of the eighth day in which the priest makes the sacrifice for sin.[26] If we take into account that time is succession and as such is proper to changing existences, a time that would last forever and ever, but which by doing so would never bring changing existences to perfection, it would have no meaning. Her evolution, even if she has an eternal time at her disposal, does not take her out of what she is: she remains always changeable, so imperfect. This means a disregard for the meaning of history and existence, which mankind reached in the Old Testament and more fully in Christianity, and a relapse into the archaic mentality of naturalistic religions, copied from pantheistic philosophies. The world cannot forever be: “for there can never be a world in the temporal aspiration to a target as it is seen without having reached this realm of perfection, which will please it.”[27] It must have appeared in time and must once end the

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key.[29] Virgil Ciomoş, states that: “... the problem of time can only occur for the one who comes out somewhat of the time, somehow reaching its limit. The enveloping limit of any time is eternity. Questioning time coincides with a particular way of enveloping it. The occurrence of this question can only be consumed at the frontier of time, i.e., at the end of it. The question of time, therefore, reveals from his own eschatology that being in time finally returns to being at the end of time. However, the enveloping eschaton of time represents the epiphany of time itself, its interface with time... We can now conclude that the question of time is an epiphany of eternity itself.”[30] The evolution of the human perception of time is at a higher level through God’s Revelation to the people chosen by the Old Testament. All studies devoted to understanding it, however, face a major difficulty, namely the notion with which biblical authors identified time. The Jews had a concept of time and eternity very different from modern ones. These differences already appear in an attempt to translate a Hebrew text into the Romanian language, the Hebrew verb not expressing temporal categories. To be “timeless” is limited to specifying whether an action is perfect or not. From there, the various appointments given through grammar to the two personal modes of the Hebrew verb: past and future. Perfect is used for solemn declarations, the perfectly prophetic famous, being nothing but an invention of the exegetes.[31] If language is the expression of the intimate being of the people, this peculiarity of the Hebrew language comes to emphasize the essential difference between our conception of time and that of the Bible. When pondering the important statements of Isaiah 43.1, it can translate: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you and called you by name, you are mine.” The temporal sphere in which the verb is located entails with it

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the interpretation of the whole passage. The question is whether it is the liberation of the past, present, or future. Studies devoted to the notion of time for the primary historical period led to the idea that the essential for the primary man was not time as such, which could be compared with the life span or with the daily work or with another “colorless” framework, but the content of this time. This is a conception similar to that which we have of the notion of time in the Old Testament, where no distinction is made between time and events that occur over time. Thus, we read, for example in Psalm 30,15: “in Your hands (is) my fate...”. Here, time signifies fate. Events of paramount importance, such as the exit from Egypt, the era of Moses, or of David, had a great influence on biblical authors. After all, they constituted central meanings in the history of the Jewish people, because, in fact, they defined time par excellence. Another aspect of the depiction of time is the succession of the kings of Judah and Israel and the circumstances of their reigns, historical time exhibited in Deuteronomy, in Amos, in Ossia.[32] Scripture highlights several acceptances of time. The first is found in the Old Testament and is in fact that of the first chapter of the Face (Genesis): “In the beginning, God made heaven and earth.”(Genesis 1,1) This notion of time, in which the idea of linear time was recognized, accepted as a line with a beginning and an end, is assumed by some scholars as not being the oldest account of time. It is possible that the time of Genesis 1.1 was attached to the rest of the book by a priestly author, to the idea of the periods or ages of the world that the Babylonians already knew. This assumption confirms what Ludwig Kohler said that in the Old Testament “creation was already an eschatological notion”.[33] Thus, the author of Genesis had not been interested in the time that elapsed after the creation

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“from ollamh to ollamh” (from eternity to eternity). In this perspective, the statement from Isaiah 51.8 is also interpreted: “My justice remains in the age (the ollamh) my salvation from the nation to the nation.” It signifies that God’s righteousness is not attached to human events and human actions, but that it continues in absolute, immobile, eternal time. What could occur to man or the world in the ever-changing expression, God’s righteousness was like his salvation.[34] These lines of Jewish thought are only approximate. Their beginning shows that the problem of biblical time is of rare complexity. There is not only one biblical conception of time, because the Holy Scripture contains several, presenting itself as a book with a beginning and an end. Temporal perspectives are useful to be known, however, because they help to understand the atmosphere in which God’s people, Israel, lived. They allow a better explanation of the band from its faith and the tenacity of its hope. They also contain the secret of one of the most important conceptions of Old Testament theology and philosophy, namely that of the origins of eschatology. Through an overview of the books of the New Testament, we can realize the importance given to time in Jewish thought. Evangelical or Pauline terminology is characterized and focused on the relationship between faith and salvation. Thus, they meet with particular frequency and in essential passages, all the temporal expressions available to the Greek in its most significant terms: day, hour, time, time, respite, cosmic century, limited versus eternal cosmic centuries (Emera, time, kairos, Cronos, aion and aiones). The two notions that most clearly designate the Jewish conception of time are those generally expressed by the terms kairos, kairoi and aion, aiones. An adequate

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of the world, but the time that remained to unfold until its end. Humanity still lived under the sign of God’s patience. This existential concern dominates the thinking of the author of Genesis 1.1, in other words, an admirable confession of faith where each term is weighed with obvious theological care. One of the terms most often used in the Holy Scripture to denote time is the Hebrew word “ollamh”. To find out what it means, the path of Semitic thinking is to be followed, which is dominated, by the idea of a group, by totality. When the man subjected to the biblical mentality sees a woman, “Moabite”, that will appear to him not as an isolated individual of the Moabite ethnic group, but as a perfectly valid manifestation of this group. It is believed that the same conception explains that everything David achieved ascended the throne of Jerusalem was regarded as a David, as a perfectly valid manifestation of what the Jew had attached to the idea of David and his house. This particular conception can also be found in the New Testament. The notions of the Church seen and unseen, the mutual relationships become clear when they are examined in the light of practical thinking. They can be compared to those of ideal Israel and empirical Israel, the first being present in the second, the manifestation of one being perfectly valid to the other. The relationship between the Son and the Father in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John reveals its true meaning only from this perspective. To return to the question of “ollamh”, improperly translated through eternity, it is truly similar to that which represents an exit from “Urzeit” or the times of origin when the chain of events is only a perfectly valid manifestation. Thus, in every event of history, the time of origins will be present. In other words, the historical event is considered as coming out of this “ollamh” to return. Thus, will be the meaning of the expression:

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translation of the various terms that were on time is not easy at all. They highlight, in each passage, a theological and philosophical meaning according to the given context. On the other hand, specialized dictionaries show us that these terms can also be used in the New Testament without having any special theological significance. Concerning the use of ‘kairos,’ it can be said that it designates in time a given moment by its content, while the ‘aion’ marks a duration, a limited time-space or not. In the New Testament, each of the two terms defines from a particular position close to its object, the same time that is filled by the history of salvation. [35] There is, however, in Jewish thought, a “time difference” between the present ‘aion’ and the future ‘aion.’ However, it concerns only the issue of their limits. The current ‘aion’ is directed in two directions: before the creation of men and before the end of the world. The coming ‘aion’ is limited only in one direction and remains unlimited in another. Its end is limitless, although this ‘aion’ is not without beginning. The depth of these statements is supported by the biblical writings in which the future ‘aion’ has a beginning in time because its eternity should not be confused with Platonic eternity.[36] The foray we have made into ancient and Jewish thought must be a foundation for the construction of concepts about time and eternity in Christianity. To understand, however, the use of the term ‘aion’ in primary Christianity (the period of The Time of Jesus Christ and the First Century of the Christian Era) we must completely free ourselves from all philosophical notions of time and eternity. Conclusions In conclusion, it can be said that this term, in temporal acceptance, in the singular and

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plural, tends to designate a longer or longer duration, which may be: - time in its total, infinite, unlimited extent in the two directions, the so-called “eternity”; [37] - the time-limited in the two directions, framed by the genesis and end of the world, and which, consequently, is identical to “this aion here”, “the presentation”[38] - time-limited in one direction and unlimited in another - the time before creation which constitutes the end and the limit; it is, on the contrary, boundless, infinite, with a return to the past, which translates into eternity; - the time that stretches from the present ‘aion,’ which begins with what is called the end of the world; it, therefore, has a limit, the beginning, and is endless, infinite, in the face of the future, but this only happens in that acceptance which is eternity. This schematic vision shows that the only “naive” conception of time pursued as an infinite “straight line” is that of the non-testamentary history of salvation. It is attached to this straight and uninterrupted line of agonism in which the ‘kairoi’ is placed fixed by God. As God determines the isolated kairos and the history of salvation, He equally establishes, according to His plan, the distinction between the ‘aiones’. After highlighting the main coordinates of mosaic thinking about time and its meanings, it is interesting to notice that they have determined a way of existence and placement in history that has individualized the destiny of the Jewish people in relation to Christianity. In this respect, taking over the philosopher Renan, Berdyaev notes some acute differences between the Aryan and the Semitic type. He does not take seriously the joys of life, passionate about the chimera of life beyond the grave (for only such a chimera can exhort you to great deeds). The

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References [1]

Constantin Voicu, Patrologie [Eng. Patrology],

vol. 1, (Bucharest: Basilica, 2009), 294. Ioan C. Coman, Patrologie [Eng. Patrology], vol. 2, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1985), 245-51. [3] Jaroslav Pelikan, Christian tradition. A history of doctrine development. Birth of universal tradition (100-600), vol. 1, (Iaşi: Polirom, 2004), 68. [4] St Clement Alexandrine, “Stromata 5th”, in PBS 5, trad. Pr. D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 360: “The idea of one God was Always in the natural way in all people with a healthy mind, and most, those who had not lost their shame to the truth, understood the eternal beneficently of God’s pronunciation.” [5] Pelikan, Christian tradition. A history of doctrine development. Birth of universal tradition (100-600), vol. 1, 69. [6] St Clement, “Stromata 6th,” 422: “For only one is the unborn, God the almighty, and only one is the Most Born, by whom all have been done and without him, nothing has been done”. [7] St Clement, “Stromata 7th”, in PBS 5, trad. Pr. D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 482: “... Gnostic souls, by the magnitude of their contemplation, exceeds the life of any holy hierarchy, and according to this life, inherit the places intended for the gods; their souls are considered holy among the saints. [8] Claudio Moreschini, Istoria filosofiei patristice [Eng. History of patristic philosophy], (Iași: Polirom, 2009), 61. [9] St Clement, Word of exhortation for the Hellenics (Protreptic) in PBS 4, trad. by Pr. D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 107. [10] St Clement “Stromata 5th”, in PBS 5, trad. Pr. D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 363: “Then barbarian knows a spiritual world and another material world; one, original model, another, the so-called model face; one leads to the monads since it is spiritual, the other, being material, leads petaradians number 6 is given the name “marriage”, because it is fecund, and in the monades, there is the seen sky, the faceless earth, and the spiritual light. Scripture says, ‘In the beginning, God made heaven and earth and earth unseen.’” [2]

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Arian builds his home for eternity, the seed wants the good to come while he is alive. He does not want to wait; glory or good, which you do not feel, does not exist for him. The seed gave God, the aery gave immortality to the soul.”[39] Even if this characterization is one-sided and, in this exclusive form, does not correspond to the complex historical reality, it still contains a percentage of truth. This explains the extraordinary tension with which the Jews wait messianically for the coming day of the happy kingdom of God on earth. A conclusion of this prologue to orthodoxy’s perspective on time, we could say that while in the Jews thinking there is God, but there is no resurrection, the Greeks philosophy had the idea of an immortal soul but did not have a God, in Orthodoxy God dies and resurrects. Between the separating fanaticism and the mixing syncretism lies the mystery of Christ, which differs without separating and unites without interfering. [40] Covid 19 paradigm has created a phobia in the spiritual mentality of society in a sense of approaching the pathways of time philosophy from the fatal position of the finality of time leading to the wrong conclusion in understanding the ontological view of time in a sense of pushing God out of time. The modern thinking of society today about time alternate similarly from the need for purpose in past, present, and future time which often leads to fanatism and ignorance of a purpose or a soul transcendent destiny leading to Hedonistic living. The Christian approach to the philosophy of ontological time is the wake-up call for society today and provides the logical answer for the existential question of our eternity time, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega.

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St Clement, Stromata 4th, 239. Claudio Moreschini, Istoria filosofiei patristice [Eng. History of patristic philosophy], (Iași: Polirom, 2009, 119. [13] Ibidem, 363. [14] Gregory Palama, Opere Complete [Eng. Complete Operas], Vol 1, (Bucharest: Ed. Patristic, 2005), p. 192, [15] Dumitru Stăniloae, Time and Forever, (SLG Press, Convent of the Incarnation, Fair cress, Oxford, 1971), 1. [16] St. Gregory of Nyssa, De pauperum Amore. Oration 2, P.G. 46, 472 c., apud. Thomas Spidlik, Spiritualitatea Răsăritului Crestin, Manual Sistematic [Eng. Spirituality of the East Christianity Systematic Manuals] Vol I, Trad. Ioan Ică Jr, (Sibiu: Ed. Deisis, 1997), 177. [17] Mircea Eliade, Imagini și simboluri [Eng. Images and symbols], (Bucharest: Ed. Humanitas, 1994,) 209. [18] Thomas Spidlik, Eternalita E Il Tempo lazoe E Il Bios Problem Dei Padri Cappadocia, Augustinianum”, 16 (1976), 107-116. [19] G. Florovski, “Eschatology in the Patristic Age,” in Studia Patristic, Vol II, (Kart Aland and SL. Cross, Oxford,1955), 24. [20] Thomas Spidlik, Omul și destinul său in spiritualitatea rusă [Eng. Man, and his destiny in Russian spirituality] Vol. IV, Trad. Maria Cornelia Ică, (Sibiu: Ed. Deisis, 2002), 162. [21] Olivier Clement, Transfigurer Them Temp [Eng. Time Transfiguration], (Neuchatel, Paris, 1959), 99. [22] Dumitru Stăniloae, Time and Forever, (SLG Press, Convent of the Incarnation, Fair cress, Oxford, 1971), 39. [23] Ibidem, 429. [24] St Clement, Which rich will be saved? in PSP 4, trad. by Pr. D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 65. [25] St. Clement Word of exhortation to the Hellenics. (Protreptic), 138: “And “today” and learning extends to the end of the world, and then, at the end of the world, the “today” the real one, is the continuous day of God, which is equal to eternity. [...] Because this [11] [12]

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“today” is eternal, it is the icon of the ages, and the day is the symbol of light, and the Word is light among men, through whom we see God.” [26] St. Clement, “The Pedagogue,” in PBS 4, trad. by D. Fecioru, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 182: “That it is not all one eternity and time, nor the beginning and the end. It’s not all one! Both these actions deal with understanding by faith what means in the beginning: is the beginning of time, so the end of it is eternity. The Lord himself revealed to us, very clearly, the universality of salvation, when he said, ‘This is the will of my Father, that whatever he sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the next day (In 6,40). [27] St. Clement, Stromata 4th, 304. [28] Dumitru Stăniloae, Time and Forever, 39. [29] St. Maxim the Confessor, Răspunsuri către Talasie, 65 [Answered to Talasie 65]; Filocalia, vol.3, 438-439. [30] Adrian Lemeni, Sensul eshatologic al creatiei, [Eng. Eschatological meaning of creation], (Bucharest: Ed. ASAB, 2004), 167. [31] Virgil Ciomoş, Timp și eternitate [Eng. Time and Eternity], (Bucharest: Ed. Pleiada, 1998), 149. [32] Ivan Engnell, Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East, (Upsala, 1943), 207. [33] Johannes Pedersen, “Skepticism Israelite”, In Cahiers of la Revue D’histoire et philosophie religieuse, (publish at Protestant Faculty of Theology, Paris: The University Strasbourg, 1931), 145. [34] Ludwig Kohler, Theology Des Alten Testaments, (Ρbingen, 1936),71, 237. [35] Ibidem, 23. [36] Oscar Cullman, Christ and Time The primitive Christian Conception of Time and History 3RD Edition (Wipf and Stock Publisher Eugene 2018), 26-27. [37] Ibidem, 3. [38] To this acceptance of the term Aion corresponds to the adjective aiones. Although in this form it is considered exclusively as an attribute of God, ‘aiones’ tends to

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Author’s Publications: “Christ Learnings in School

– Elements of Religious Pedagogy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliană ‘98, Garuda-Art, Iasi-Chisinau, 2006, ISBN: 978-9975-98963, ISBN:10-973-7737-76-8, ISBN:13,978-973-7737-76-2. “From the General Pedagogy to the Psychological Pedagogy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana-Art ‘98, Iasi-Chisinau, 2007, ISBN:978-9975-9588-3-4, ISBN:978-973116-019-1. “Communication – Fundamental Factor in the Educational Management” (Romanian in original) Edit. Vasiliana ‘98, Iasi, 2007, ISBN:978-973-113-055-2. “Psychological Aspects of Motivation at Young People” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana ‘98, Iaşi, 2007, ISBN:978-973-113054-5. “Theory and Methodology of Educating” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana, ‘98, Iaşi, 2009, ISBN: 978-973-116-116-7. “Psiho-Pedagogy of Adults and Adolescents” (Romanian in original), Edit.Vasiliana, ‘98,

Iasi, 2009, ISBN: 978-973-116-119-8 “Didactics of Economic Sciences” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2010, ISBN:978-973-116-179-1 “The Concept of Intercultural Curriculum” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2010, ISBN:978-973-116-177-5 “Riddles and Manifestations of Jealousy in Couple” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2010, ISBN:978-973-116198-3 “The Personality of the Abused Child” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2011, ISBN:978-973-116-222-5 “Influences of Parental Divorce on Children’s Personality: A Case Study on Young Pupils” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2011, ISBN:978-973-116-220-1 “Basics of Spiritual Psychotherapy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2012 ISBN 978-973-116-282-9 “Ethics of the Profession of Psychologist “Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973-116274-4 “Ethics and Professional Conduct” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973-116-289-8 “Pedagogical Views and Teaching Ddoctrines” (Romanian in original) Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973-116-286-7

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lose its temporary meaning and wants to designate, in a purely qualitative manner, divine immutability (absolute immobility), cf. Nikolai Berdyaev, Sensul Istoriei [Eng. Meaning of History] Second edition, (Iasi: Ed. Polirom, 2013), 103. [39] The final phase of limited time in this world began with Jesus Christ, which was pointed out in I Corinthians 10, 11: And all this happened to those, as pre-imaginations of the future, and were written to preaching ours, which they have reached breaks ages. cf. Oscar Cullman, op. cit., 34. [40] Nikolai Berdyaev, Sensul Istoriei [Eng. Meaning of History] Second edition, (Iasi: Ed. Polirom, 2013), 104. [41] Paul Evdokimov, Ortodoxia [Eng. Orthodoxy], (Bucharest: Ed. EIBMBOR, 1996), 347.

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Revisiting a Victorian Poet: Gerard Manley Hopkins Ecocritical and Religious Echoes

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Nicoleta Stanca, PhD.

Ovidius University of Constanta Romania

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 12 February 2021 Received in revised form 03 March Accepted 10 March 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.15

Keywords: religion; ecocriticism; pastoral; Victorian; poetry; G.M. Hopkins;

The article starts from the claims of some ecocritical theoreticians that Christianity may be considered among the roots of the belief that man masters the earth (at least in the West) and thus justifies the current environmental crisis. But even these critics feel the need to provide role models of environmental concern from the list of saintly figures of the Christian tradition. In an age completely enthusiastic about the union between science and technology, the Victorian Age, the Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote sonnets that may be read through the ecocritical lens at a time when the concept had not been invented. The conclusions of the essay point out the relevance of the emergence of ecococritical studies in the 1980s, showing thus how literary studies, religion and spirituality join environmental concerns and contribute to man’s fair appreciation and treatment of nature. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Nicoleta Stanca. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Stanca, Nicoleta. ”Revisiting a Victorian Poet: Gerard Manley Hopkins. Ecocritical and Religious Echoes.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 178-188. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.15

I. INTRODUCTION

This essay has been prompted by a response to an article on “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” in which the author traces back the justification for the contemporary environmental destruction to the Christian doctrine [1]. How is it possible that such an interpretation occur? From the mere initial Biblical urge to master the

earth that man might reach the stage of exhausting it, close to annihilation? We will first present the arguments provided by theoreticians of ecocritical studies to offer a counter-argument in the religious and nature poetry of a Victorian poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and then we will conclude on the ecocritical lesson to be remembered and applied if we care about saving the planet and our spirituality.

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II. Literature review I: religion and

science

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It is common knowledge that scientific discoveries meant in time technological power over nature, an aspect present since the 18th century and taken over in the following centuries by the chemical industry and agricultural practices. The term “ecology” appears to have been used in English since 1873 [2] and only a century later the impact of human life was so dramatic (through mining, deforestation, erosion, bombs, smog, population growth, sewage, and garbage) that it changed its essence. The ecological crisis is the result of the 19thcentury combination between science and technology. The Western tradition of science and technology is actually older than the 17thcentury scientific revolution and the 18thcentury industrial revolution and this technological superiority made it conquer and colonize other parts of the world. Since the 11th century, the Latin West had works translated from Greek and Arabic and it ensured its medieval dominance. It was then that our relationship with nature was shaped by our belief system. “The victory of Christianity over paganism was the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture” [3]. Christianity brought the story of creation: God created everything: the earth, the plants, animals, birds, fish, and man (made of clay in God’s image), and the man named the animals created for his benefit. White Jr. sees Christianity as the most anthropocentric religion. Yet, Christianity had two major developments: in the West (a voluntarist tradition of the right conduct and the Western saint’s acts) and in the East (an intellectualist tradition of salvation, orthodoxy, and the Greek saint’s contemplation). In the East, the interpretation was that by revelation God gave man the Book of Scripture and

God made nature and nature must reveal the divine, which gave birth to “natural theology” (the religious study of nature for better knowledge of God) [4]. In the early Church and the Eastern tradition, nature has been a symbolical system through which God speaks to man. In the Latin West, where the conquest of nature emerged, the situation was different. From the 13th to the 17th century, scientists claimed to have explained things in Christian terms: modern Western science was cast in a matrix of Christian theology” [5]. White Jr. considers that modern technology was the occidental, voluntarist realization of the Christian dogma of man’s transcendence and mastery over nature. But is Christianity guilty of having supported science and technology through which man gained uncontrollable powers? The same domineering attitude seems to have been inherited by the contemporary generation, the so-called post- Christians, in White Jr.’s terms [6]. Therefore, what is the solution for the salvation of the planet? More science or more technology would be useless, as we have witnessed for a while. White Jr., surprisingly, offers the example of a saint as a role model for the preservation of nature: “I propose Francis as a patron saint for ecologists” [7]. Saint Francis of Assisi is appreciated for his belief in the virtue of humility, through which he tried to establish a “democracy of all God’s creatures” [8]. Legends about him state that he was urging birds to praise God, as man did not do it any longer. His view of nature and of man rested on a unique sort of pan-psychism of all things animate and inanimate, designed for the glorification of this transcendent Creator, who, in the ultimate gesture of cosmic humility, assumed flesh, lay helpless in a manger, and hung dying on a scaffold. [9] Christopher Manes, another ecocritical theoretician, also sees nature as “silenced”

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in the Western culture as a result of social practices throughout history, in connection to religious developments. Since social power operates through privileged speakers, with the unity between power and reason beyond question, it is logical that ecologists demand now some “ecological humility” in language [10]. According to Manes, the early animistic tendencies changed in the Middle Ages under the impact of literacy and the Christian doctrine [11]. Initially, within the Great Chain of Being, nature was still a symbol of the order of God, with higher and lower creatures, man being lower than angels but higher than animals. Literacy then led to the use of rational analysis and the practice of the interpretation of the Bible emphasised the existence, behind the literal, of a moral truth not understood unless revealed. Exegesis included everything in a “net of divine meaning” [12]: the eagle could rise higher than all birds and gaze on the sun because it symbolized St. John. From this hermeneutical perspective, it all made sense if connected to divine intention and relevant for man’s redemption. This view, in Manes’ opinion, evolved in the silencing of nature, deprived of self-autonomy. The Renaissance placed “Lord Man” at the centre as the speaking and rational ruler of the natural order. Post-Enlightenment still viewed man as the ground of all possible knowledge. The discourse favouring man’s supremacy is still strong: “The emergence of Homo Sapiens stands for the entire saga of biological adaptation on the planet, so that everything that came before takes its meaning, in Baconian fashion, from this one form” [13]. Yet, postmodern philosophy might have offered ecologists the solution as it places man, fragmented and decentred in the social realm, as “a product of institutional technologies of control” [14], which asks for a re-evaluation of the silence of nature. Ecology suggests a different

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perspective from the humanist one: if, for example, fungus disappeared, it would first affect forests and then man; but, if man disappeared, the other life forms would remain. To give the ecological ideas more impact by connecting them to man’s spiritual needs, Alan Drengson, editor of the deep ecology journal, The Trumpeter, established the Ecostery Project, on a medieval social form, in the shape of monasteries with a role to promote a dialogue with nature as well [15]. Another point of view on the lack of human concern for nature is offered by Harold Fromm, who links religion and ecology but deplore the lack of Christian feelings as the source of man’s destruction of nature. In early Christianity, the example of saints, prophets, priests, monks, nuns showed the importance of spirituality as dominant over bodily needs and control over nature. In a context of human frailty, because of rough physical conditions, there was an overall acceptance of the divine will. But, with 18th-century industrialisation, comfort increased and the perception of nature changed. Man seemed no longer so dependent on nature and the need for transcendence appeared to die away. Contemporary lifestyle, according to Fromm, creates the impression of nonexistent nature to human perceptions, with a human mind assured of domination over nature and cut off from natural roots [16]. These are the viewpoints expressed in theological prose writings and sonnets by the priest poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. III. Analysis of the data Religious poetry with ecocritical echoes: Gerard Manley Hopkins (1884-1889)

The example that will be analysed in order to show how Christianity leads to concern for nature and not vice versa, as suggested by two of the environmentalists

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showed a religious contemplation of nature [19]. Penitence, confession and absolution were appealing to Hopkins, who found the Jesuit discipline self-fulfilling. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, were influential for the poet, in his need for total commitment to Christianity. Therefore, an inner conflict occurred between the urge for creativity (love of beauty, form, craftsmanship) and the urge for self-sacrifice (of the Jesuit code). This is what differentiates him from the preceding Romantics and makes him unique. Hopkins must have become convinced that the beauty of the created world could be enjoyed without betraying his religion, indeed that it could be enjoyed as evidence of the presence of God in created things[20]. Hopkins believed in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There are only two ways, according to him, for humans to know God. They know Him as Master and Lord, with the duty to praise and serve Him. God is present in the soul but also beyond and above all things; He gives beauty and is everywhere, eternal and timeless. Secondly, they know God through His creatures and His created world: “the duty of man is to struggle and understand this magnificence and mystery” [21]. Meeting God and greeting God inspire Hopkins’ texts: “As we drove home the stars came out thick: I leaned back to look at them and my heart opening more than usual praised our Lord to an in whom all the beauty comes home.” [22]. The problems, when they occur, are in connection with sin, selfishness, blindness to beauty and the destruction of nature, which becomes an irreligious action for Hopkins. God the Son is “the first intention of God outside Himself’ [23]: a shepherd, a falcon, a hero, the king; He is in beauty and in suffering, in mastery and mercy. “The aim

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above, is that of a late 19th-century poet, a Victorian poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, whom we will regard as traditional and modern at the same time. He is traditional through the religious sonnets in praise of God (as a legacy of David’s psalms) and modern through the ecocritical lens present in the poems, when the discipline/ approach did not exist but which offers the most adequate interpretation of his sonnets dedicated to God and nature. Hopkins attended Oxford University, studying classical languages, and graduated with a First in Honour Moderations (Greek and Latin) in 1864 and a First in “Greats” (Ancient History and Philosophy) in 1867. He was received in the Roman Catholic Church in 1866 and a year later, he worked as a teacher at the Oratory School, Birmingham, under his Catholic mentor, John Henry Newman. In 1868, he entered the Order of the Jesuits as a novice and, in 1877, was ordained as a priest, serving in the parishes of Sheffield, Stonyhurst, London, Oxford, Bedford, Leigh, Liverpool and Roehampton. In 1884, he also taught Greek and Latin at University College Dublin [17]. The college gardens and the whole countryside around Oxford were, from the beginning, a source of inspiration for poetry, to oppose to city life, in an English Romantic tradition: As I went up Brunswick Road (Botany street) at Liverpool on a frosty morning it used to disgust me to see the pavement regularly starred with the spit of the workmen going to their work; they do not turn aside, but spit straight before them as you approach, as a Frenchman remarked to me with abhorrence and I cd. only blush ... And our whole civilisation is dirty, yea filthy, and especially in the north. [18] Hopkins had a musician’s ear and a painter’s eye, insisting that his poetry be read aloud. Being shaped as a Jesuit but also as a nature poet, we could claim that he

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of all God’s actions through Christ is the freeing of the self to be true to its deepest and noblest instincts” [24]. God the Holy Spirit is a presence and a fire; it is active, inspiring, part of the Divinity. The world is full of God’s greatness but this is not noticed; yet, nature is always a sign of God’s presence. Hopkins calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. The Holy Spirit comes to do good, to encourage goodness and justice, with God’s judgment in mind. Interestingly, to make the relation between God and nature even more visible, Hopkins invents two concepts: “inscape” and “instress.” He first mentions them in his writings on the Greek philosopher Parmenides (the Greek’s question that a thing is and it is as it is). Hopkins considers that things are more than present/ nonpresent: I have often felt when I have been in this mood and felt the depth of an instress or how fast the inscape holds a thing that nothing is so pregnant and straightforward to the truth as simple yes and is. [25] Thus, the poet identifies the two qualities as inscape as something that prevents it from changing into something else and instress as something which is felt by the perceiving mind. The two are closely connected: “a) with the world of physical things, and, indeed, mental and spiritual things too (inscape) and b) with our perception of the external world and the forces within it (instress)” [26]. Hopkins also takes over the concept of haeccitas, “thisness,” from the medieval theologian and philosopher Duns Scotus. The poet is aware of the variety and abundance of the created world. From the general “thisness,” each thing has its own essence: “elm-ness,” “oak-ness,” “poplar-ness”[27]. Also, a thing speaks and spells itself: it selves [28]. This is the job of the poet, to remind people of the unique features of things, of nature. Overall, the Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

impulse behind Hopkins’ poetry lies in the mystery as the central instress of God. This is the force felt by the believer who “blesses when he understands” [29]. In the commentary to the Spiritual Exercises, mentioned above, Hopkins makes the following claims: Man was created to praise, reverence and serve God Our Lord, and by so doing to save his soul; God is deeply present to everything; God’s utterance of himself is God the Word, outside himself is this world. This world then is word, expression news of God. Therefore, its end, its purpose, its meaning, is God and its life or work to name and praise Him. [30] Therefore, man/ the poet has to serve God, praise this beauty (in nature) and speak about it (through poetry). The sequence of sonnets written in north Wales in the spring of 1877 fulfills precisely this task. In “God’s Grandeur” the world appears as loaded, electric with the greatness of the Creator, full of God’s bright light. The poet uses a striking comparison between the way in which the beauty trickles from everything and the manner in which oil runs from an oil press: It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; [31]

The comparison is followed in the same octave by the lament over man’s destruction of this beauty through the mechanical and indifferent rhythms of mundane existence, deprived of any spiritual dimension. Yet, the last two lines of the sonnet bring hope through the rebirth brought about by the action of the Holy Ghost. The octave and the sestet of the sonnet “Spring” recreate the freshness of the beginnings of nature, with grass weeds

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symbolising fertility and birds’ eggs like the sky, the connection with Paradise being obvious. The rich nature description is meant to offer the poet reasons for praising the Creator in the second part of the poem. The sestet is also a prayer for youth and innocence, in the desire that they may be preserved, like in Eden.

In “The Sea and the Skylark,” the poet, on the seashore (Rhye, May 1877), is listening to the sea and the skylark, the sounds produced by them being clean, pure, natural vs. the sounds of our civilized life, soiling the beauty of the earth and showing humanity in decline: How these two shame this shallow and frail town! How ring right out our sordid turbid time, Being pure! We, life’s pride and cared-for crown, Have lost that cheer and charm of earth’s past prime: [33]

About “The Windhover,” dated 30 May 1877, Hopkins says it is “the best things I ever wrote” [34]; “a poem of enthusiasm and exultation, followed by a mature and quiet consideration” [35]. The windhover is an old term for kestrel/ falcon, a symbol for Christ in Hopkins’ poetry. The poet recognizes beauty and expresses it with the purest joy of the heart: I caught this morning morning’s minion, king dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air,

For the heart is of all the members of the body the one which most strongly and most of its own accord sympathises with and expresses in itself what goes on within the soul. Tears are sometimes forced, smiles may be put on, but the beating of the heart is the truth of nature. [37] Among the poems written in the period 1877-1879, we will refer to “Pied Beauty,” “The Caged Skylark,” “In the Valley of the Elwy” and “Binsey Poplars,” to illustrate further images of creation and destruction of nature in Hopkins’ vision. “Pied Beauty” is a brief and concise illustration of the concepts of inscape and instress coined by the poet himself. The most common beauty of the natural world, its unique features, are revealed to contradict sameness and to praise the Creator: Glory be to God for dappled things - For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced - fold, fallow, and plough; And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. [38]

“The Caged Skylark” shows the spirit of man imprisoned in his body, as a skylark is “scanted” (given scanty room to live), even if it may have food and a perch in the cage. This is a hymn to the freedom of the spiritual man, whose song becomes exquisite only after liberation: Man’s spirit will be flesh-bound, when found at best, But uncumbered: meadow-down is not

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Have, get, before it cloy, Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning, Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy, Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning. [32]

and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstasy! [36]

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distressed For a rainbow footing it nor he for his bones risen. [39]

“In the Valley of the Elwy” is written in the pastoral tradition, praising bucolic nature in Wales. The second part of the text deplores man’s presence, which is destructive or at least, indifferent, and God is asked for help in order to mend the damage: Only the inmate does not correspond: God, lover of souls, swaying considerate scales, Complete thy creature dear O where it fails, Being mighty a master, being a father and fond. [40]

“Binsey Poplars” is inspired by a real event, the cutting down of a row of poplar trees on the river bank near Oxford, 1879. The “thisness”/ “poplarness” of this unique place is destroyed through the finality and the brutality of the action evoked. There is a feeling of personal loss for the voice of the poem: My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled, Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun, All felled, felled, are all felled; [41]

The dangling movement is comparable to that of a mother rocking her baby, which involved the gentlenss of the trees. In the play of shadows and light, only the shadows remain, leaving room for the poet’s imagination to recreate the beauty of the trees in his mind. There are verbs that suggest an almost cruel way to torture the tender and frail nature: When we delve or hew — Hack and rack the growing green! [42]

There is parallel between cutting down

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the trees and plucking out somebody’s eyes; these are God’s eyes for us and the strokes given to the wood are a symbolical murder, a destruction of the self, the essence of the rural scene: To mend her we end her, When we hew or delve: After-comers cannot guess the beauty been. [43]

Hopkins wrote his sonnets with the anguish, humility and love of a true follower of David (and his psalms). They are absolutely exquisite songs in praise of God as Father and Creator and Beauty giver. The difference is that, under the circumstances of the Western society in the 19th century, he also draws attention to the lack of humility of man and his blindness to nature as God’s miraculous creation. IV. Literature review II: the ecocritical

sequel

The third part of this article goes back to environmental literary studies as a contemporary discipline using the justification of Gerard Manley Hopkins as a precursor of ecocriticism at time when the term did not exist. The need to reconsider the connection between literature and the environmental crisis of the contemporary age has been reflected in the newspaper headline since the 1970s, yet it is only in the mid-1980s that environmental literary studies were in the limelight. In 1985, Frederick O. Waage edited Teaching Environmental Literature: Materials, Methods, Resources. In 1989, Alicia Nitecki founded the American Nature Writing Newsletter. Articles were published in journals; literature courses were introduced in the environmental studies curricula; new institutes or programs in nature and culture emerged and the English

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coherence and usefulness as responses to environmental crisis” [48]. The greening of literary studies, as critics put it, has been a consequence of the environmental crisis, which seemed more pressing without being entirely new. The awareness that we witness an age of environmental limits, in which humans’ actions destroy the planet, is visible in the religious and poetic writings of the Victorian poet presented in the second section of the paper. Only that it took us a few more decades to look again, this time, through the reason of the critical approach, at the simple truth uttered by Hopkins: God as immanent in creation and the earth itself as sacred. According to Garrard, in his study dedicated to Ecocriticism, the founding texts of modern environmentalism rely on two genres mainly, the pastoral and the apocalypse, which imagines the relation between humans and nature going back to the Biblical sources, the Genesis and the Revelation [49]. Garrard uses several tropes to discuss ways of imagining nature in literature, such as the pastoral, worth analysing as it also enlightens our understanding of Hopkins’ poems. The pastoral tradition has three meanings: the literary tradition implying a retreat from the city to the countryside, with origins in ancient Alexandria and a key trope in European literature during the Renaissance; generally, literature that describes the country in contrast to the urban and, thirdly, in a pejorative sense, an idealisation of rural life that ignores the reality of rural labour and hardships [50]. The beginnings could be traced back to the escapism of the Idylls of the Alexandrian poet Theocritus (c. 316-260), of the Hellenistic period, and the Eclogues of Virgil (7019 BCE), the earliest instances of lament over the deforestation in Rome. The pastoral in the Judeo-Christian tradition is connected to the representation of time, with Genesis and the Fall as an

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department offered a minor in environmental studies. In 1990, the University of Nevada, Reno, created the first academic position in Literature and the Environment [44]. In 1991, the MLA session organized by Harold Fromm bore the title: “The Greening of Literary Studies;” in 1992, the American Literature Association symposium, chaired by Glen Love, focused on “American Nature Writing, New Contexts, New Approaches” and in the same year the new Association for the study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) was created, with 750 members in 1995 and its first conference. In 1993, the ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment) was established by Patrick Murphy [45]. Thus, ecological literary studies became a recognizable critical school. The term “ecocriticism,” as “the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature,” was coined in 1978 by William Rueckert in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism” [46]. Ecocriticism deals with the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Its subject of study is the interconnection between nature and culture and as theoretical discourse, it is concerned with the relation between the human and the non-human. Other synonyms have been used in the field: ecopoetics, environmental literary criticism and green cultural studies. There have been three phases of ecocriticism: nature representations in literature (Hopkins could be included here as a pioneer of it without naming it as such); a recuperation of nonfiction nature writing / writers manifesting an ecological awareness; theoretical ecocriticism (with further developments: ecofeminism, ecological poetics...). Ecocritics today “tie their cultural analysis explicitly to a ‘green’ moral and political agenda” [47]. “Ecocriticism seeks to evaluate texts and ideas in terms of their

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elegy to the lost pastoral innocence and the subsequent covenants between God and man, such as after the Flood, with the possibility of present grace. In the age of the industrial revolution, the loss of Eden is what Hopkins’ sonnets capture as well. Before him, the Romantic pastoral of the Lake District poets (William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge) gave a sense of being at home in nature, but the reproach is that this kind of poetry pondered more on the relationship between nature and the human mind, favouring the latter (the “egotistical sublime” in John Keats’ words). Romantic nature, as seen by Wordsworth, is loved for its vastness, majesty, beauty, eternity but it is not fundamentally seen as endangered. What saves it, however, and makes the Romantics precursors of Hopkins as an ecocritical poet, is the claim that the “Love of Nature [Leads] to Love of Mankind,” in Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads and “The Prelude” and Wordsworth’s advocacy that contributed to the opening of the National Park in England [51]. Conclusion Pastoral ecology makes room at present for the presence of God in the relation between nature and man. The essence of the pastoral lies in the idea of nature as stable and enduring. From the classical Greek and Roman tradition, as well as the Christian tradition, a few ideas have been taken over: there is “a divinely ordained order of nature,” proving the —fitness of the Earth as a habitat for various species;” the universe is seen as a great —mechanism designed by God,” an idea of harmonious nature, even in the absence of man, which is nature’s —original and intrinsic identity” (according to Frederick Clements) [52]. It is in a certain manner fashionable today to consider literary works in terms of place, setting or environment. And there is a tendency to look for instances of ecocritical Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

thinking in early literature, such as the late Renaissance, the works of Shakespeare and 17th-century poetry with the assumption that once ecocritics have found success, the strength of their project will diminish [53], which I disagree with taking into account the proportions of the contemporary ecological crisis. Kate Rigby, in her article on — Ecocriticism” offers certain means of re evaluation of our modes of thinking in order to suggest solutions for the ways in which literature and nature reconnect to save the earth. All the subheadings of the article invited to reconsider what we might have taken for granted by tradition, through culture. —Remembering the Earth” claims that since no place on earth has not been affected by human alteration of the natural environment, then ecocriticism should remember the Earth by pointing out how indebted culture is to nature. —Critiquing the canon” restates the point from which the argument of our article began; White’s idea that we identify our attitudes to nature and way in which nature is constructed in texts to the dominant religious tradition, which views nature as subservient to man. —Reframing the text” refers to the need of literary critics to rely on geography, ecology and natural sciences in their interdisciplinary approaches to literature, besides history, philosophy, social sciences. —Return to Romanticism” repositions the Romantics in a tradition of environmental consciousness to state that the wellbeing of humans is coordinated with the ecological health of the earth. —Reconnecting the social and the ecological” establishes the links between representations of nature and those of gender, race and class. — Regrounding language” starts from the idea we have already discussed in the first part of the article, namely the silence of nature in an increasingly humanised world heir to a cultural tradition; hence, the need to reconnect to nature through language. The

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References [1] White Jr., Lynn. ―The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.‖ The Ecocriticism Reader. Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Eds. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, 1995. 3-14. [2] Ibid., 5. [3] Ibid., 9. [4] Ibid., 11. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid., 12.

[7] Ibid., 14. [8] Ibid., 13. [9] Ibid. [10] Manes, Christopher. ―Nature and Silence.‖ The Ecocriticism Reader. Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Eds. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, 1995. 15-29. [11] Ibid., 18. [12] Ibid., 19. [13] Ibid., 23. [14] Ibid., 21. [15] Ibid., 25. [16] Ibid., 34. [17] Watson, J.R.. The Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. London: Penguin, 1989. 11-12. [18] Hopkins qtd. in Watson 19 (from a letter to his friend Bridges). [19] Watson, op. cit., 19. [20] Ibid., 18. [21] Hopkins qtd. in Watson 23. [22] Ibid., 24. [23] Ibid., 26. [24] Ibid. [25] Ibid., 31. [26] Ibid., 32. [27] Ibid., 33. [28] Ibid. [29] Ibid., 34. [30] Ibid., 73. [31] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/44395/gods-grandeur [32] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/51002/spring-56d22e75d65bd [33] https://poets.org/poem/sea-and-skylark [34] Hopkins qtd. in Watson 81. [35] Watson, op. cit., 81. [36] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/44402/the-windhover [37] Hopkins qtd. in Watson 88. [38] https://www.poetryfoundation. org/poems/44399/pied-beauty [39] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/44391/the-caged-skylark [40] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/50370/in-the-valley-of-the-elwy [41] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

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example of poetic language, as illustrated by Hopkins, serves this purpose, placing the poet in a position of mediator for the unheard voices of the non-humans [54]. I consider the most important subheading in Rigby’s study the one titled — Revaluing nature writing” as it gives us the essence of ecocriticism. There is an attempt of environmentally engaged literary critics and cultural theoreticians to bridge the love for nature and their preoccupation with works of human culture. Thus, they revalue the canon according to a checklist by Buell (1995): a) the environment is not only a framing device but a presence suggesting that human history is implicated in natural history; b) human interest is not considered the only legitimate one; c) the text’s ethical dimension covers human accountability to the environment; d) a sense of the environment as a process, not as a constant or as a given, is implicit in the text [55]. To sum up, what is the present solution? Go back to the attitude preached in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ sonnets and taken over, in their scientific manner, by contemporary environmentalists and ecocritics. A balanced approach between an ideal model of harmony, stability and a post-equilibrium ecology, relying on human values and spiritual needs to make a difference and protect nature.

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poems/44390/binsey-poplars [42] Ibid. [43] Ibid. [44] Glotfelty, Cheryll and Harold Fromm, eds.. The Ecocriticism Reader. Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, 1995. xvii. [45] Ibid. [46] Rueckert qtd. in Glotfelty, Cheryll and Harold Fromm xx. [47] Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge, 2012. 3. [48] Kerridge qtd. in Garrard 4. [49] Garrard, op. cit., 2. [50] Gifford qtd. in Garrard 36-7. [51] Garrard, op. cit., 44-9. [52] Ibid., 63-5. [53] Jonhson, Loretta, ―Greening the Literary: The Fundamentals and Future of Ecocriticism.‖ Choice, December 2009. 9-13. [54] Rigby, Kate. ―Ecocriticism.‖ Introducing Criticism at the Twenty First Century. Julian Wolfreys, ed., Edinburgh University Press, 2002. 151-78. [55] Ibid.

a member of ESSE and EAAS and an alumna of the Multinational Institute of American Studies, New York University (NYU).

Biography Nicoleta Stanca is Associate Professor at Ovidius University Constanta. She has published four book-length studies: Irish-Romanian Cultural Connections. Travellers, Writers and Ambassadors (2019), Mapping Ireland (Essays on Space and Place in Contemporary Irish Poetry) (2014), The Harp and the Pen (Tradition and Novelty in Modern Irish Writing) (2013), Duality of Vision in Seamus Heaney’s Writings (2009), articles in academic journals and book chapters on Irish-American identity, literary studies and popular culture. She has been a co-editor of conference volumes, the most recent being: Ideology, Identity and the US: Crossroads, Freeways, Collisions (2019). She is

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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held online, on the Journal’s website, from MAY 21-29, 2021

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Transfer of Consciousness.

Considering its possibility or fantasy from the religious and scientific perspectives Cosmin-Tudor CIOCAN, PhD

Alina Zorina STROE, PhD Department of Neurology, Faculty of General Medicine; The ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta. Romania

Department of Neurology, Faculty of General Medicine; The ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta. Romania

Silviu Docu AXELERAD, PhD Student at Vasile Goldis University, Faculty of General Medicine Arad. Romania

Maria CIOCAN, PhD

Department for the continuous development of human resources; “Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy; Constanta. Romania

Daniel Docu AXELERAD, PhD Department of Kinetotherapy ‘Brainaxy Clinic’ Constanta. Romania

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 30 April 2021 Received in revised form 28 May Accepted 30 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.16

Ancient beliefs such as astral projection, human possession, abduction and other similar are not only universal, taught by all religions, but also used as premises for core believes/expectations, such as after-life, eternal damnation, reincarnation, and many others. Transferring Consciousness to a Synthetic Body is also a feature of interest in our actual knowledge, both religious as for science. If immortality were an option, would you take it into consideration more seriously? Most people would probably dismiss the question since immortality isn’t a real deal to contract. But what if having eternal life was a possibility in today’s world? The possibility of the transfer of human consciousness to a synthetic body can soon become a reality, and it could help the world for the better. Thus, until recently, the subject was mostly proposed by religion(s) and saw as a spiritual [thus, not ‘materially real’ or ‘forthwith accomplishable’] proposal therefore not really fully engaged or trust if not a religious believer. Now, technology is evolving, and so are we. The world has come to a point where artificial intelligence is breaking the boundaries of our perception of human consciousness and intelligence. And with this so is our understanding about the ancient question ‘who are we?’ concerning consciousness and how this human feature sticks to our body or it can become an entity beyond the material flesh. Without being exhaustive with the theme’s development [leaving enough room for further investigations], we would like to take it for a spin and see how and where the religious and neuroscience realms intersect with it for a global, perhaps holistic understanding. Developments in neurotechnology favor the brain to broaden its physical control further the restraints of the human body. Accordingly, it is achievable to both acquire and provide information from and to the brain and also to organize feedback processes in which a person’s thoughts can influence the activity of a computer or reversely. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Keywords: neurotechnology; neural interfaces; brain; religion; immortality; material body; shedding; possession; inspiration; movies; astral projection; consciousness; awareness; computer; spiritual;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Cosmin-Tudor Ciocan, Any Docu Axelerad, Maria Ciocan, Alina Zorina Stroe, Silviu Docu Axelerad, Daniel Docu Axelerad. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: CIOCAN, Cosmin-Tudor, and Any Docu Axelerad, Maria Ciocan, Alina Zorina Stroe, Silviu Docu Axelerad, Daniel Docu Axelerad. ”Transfer of Consciousness. Considering its possibility or fantasy from the religious and scientific perspectives.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 189-200. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.16

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Rev. Lect. at the Theology Department; The ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta Romania

Any Docu AXELERAD, PhD

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I. Introduction

This topic of ancient importance and significance gains new interest from the scientific approach nowadays. In the spiritual and religious (S/R) realm, the transfer of consciousness has always been a possibility and a professed reality that can be experienced by any under certain circumstances. Being closely related and until recently exclusively promoted by S/R, the idea of a consciousness transfer was previously envisioned more like a myth and it was linked to several legends from this realm. Lately – around 1950’s - 60’s – several domains of science forge this topic in various themes and garments, but all with the same outcome, to propose substantial mainstream research in related areas that have been conducted in animal brain mapping and simulation, development of faster supercomputers, virtual reality, braincomputer interfaces, connectomics, and information extraction from dynamically functioning brains. Being a passionate cinephile, I was regularly stroke by the theme recurrence in several movies, considered from different angles, but in the end, all targeting a singular assertion, i.e. that brain hides our identification consciousness and, by mapping it vigorously and exhaustively, we can replicate/transfer this ‘algorithm’ into another brain, somehow similar with a software transfer from the source computer to another one by using a proper interface. The edge-cutting scientific ‘promise’ is that the idea is already viable, but there are still few elements that are to be accurately established, e.g. the exact brain areas/ centers that need to be mapped, the ‘proper interface’, or the suitable ‘subjects’. Solving these pieces and thus the puzzle, the mind/ consciousness transfer, will be a vision no more, but an achievable reality in the future. For a more and suggestible engagement, I saw the idea developed through the cutting-edge science-fiction movies, I’ve

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listed onward a few titles from those that personally drew my attention to the perspective, but certainly, the list is much bigger and can be improved with twice as many titles. * About the consciousness transfer from the material body to another machine-body entity: ‘Matrix’ series (1999-2003, by Warner Bros. Pictures). Same idea at: ‘Terminator’ series (1984-2019, by James Cameron), Astral City: A Spiritual Journey (2010), Total Recall (1990/2012), Pacific Rim (2013), Vice (2015). An elevated script of this idea is ‘that people can have cyberbrain augmentation, which allows them to connect directly to the internet’ as in Ghost in the Shell (1995/2017), Also, about same cyberbrain augmentation, Upgrade (2018). Another branch idea is that a machine can also be inhabited by a human consciousness: I, Robot (2004), Automata (2014), RoboCop (2014), Chappie (2015), * Inception (2010), about the power of mind over reality, consciousness hovering upon the material body. The same idea to Lucy (2014), Doctor Strange (2016), ‘Sense 8’ series (2018), Behind Her Eyes (TV MiniSeries 2021), * Self/less (2015, by Ram Bergman), a dying real estate mogul transfers his consciousness into a healthy young body. On the same idea: Avatar (2009), John Carter (2012) Transcendence (2014), Ex Machina (2014), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Replicas (2018, by Keanu Reeves), * the ‘Use of limitless bodies to ensure consciousness perpetuation by projecting conscious mind to a host body’ at the magnificent ‘Westworld’ series (2016); Gattaca (1997), Aeon Flux (2005), The Island (2005), Surrogates (2009), Repo Men (2010), In Time (2011), Almost Human (2013), Travelers (2016), Altered Carbon (2018), * Swap conscious identities between different bodies: Switch (1991), Freaky Friday (2003), It’s a Boy Girl Thing (2006), The Change-Up (2011), The Swap (2016),

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one became digitalized with the possibility of faithful, precise uploading, transfer, and multiplication, so should be the process for the inner ‘image’, identity, consciousness, or whatever concept would determine the whole metaphysical me in the end. Presented as a non-fiction process that is about to be specified imminently, this idea has been always present in human thinking, more or less clear or distinctive. Thus, let us know its history and human eagerness to fulfill this existential endeavor. II. A Neuro-analysis on Mind/

Consciousness Transfer

A sine-qua-non investigation to this that should bring forward the research in BCI (brain-computer interface)[3], in mapping the brain, emphasizing how neuroscience envisions ‘consciousness’, ‘identity’ starting from the brain/mind, etc. It is also helpful to unfold the idea that inner consciousness is capable of reaching out of the material body, that the material support of ‘identity’ is not everything that exists and thus ‘consciousness’ transcends it in certain circumstances, etc. Any additional research, finding, and hypothesis is helpful to be promoted on Neuro-analysis. Distinct brain abilities are mainly correlated with different areas of this brain. This structure-function connection involves not solely a macro scale, in which areas are formed by hundreds of millions of neurons, but also on a micro-neuronal scale. Therefore, brain function in terms of signal processing, memory storage, and triggering is intrinsically correlated with individual connections amidst neurons, the types of chemicals used to transmit messages amid cells, and relative moments of the exchange of these chemicals. Considering that there are billions of neurons and every single one of them has tens of thousands of synaptic connections, the complexity of this network

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The main hypothesis in these cuttingedge movies is almost the same. For example in the movie Selfless (July 10th, 2015) sir Ben Kingsley transfers his Consciousness into Ryan Reynolds’ body in an effort to stay alive forever and effectively become immortal in a process called ‘shedding’. This idea sounds very intriguing and useful – if ever possible. Let’s be serious: who have never said ‘I wish I had more time to do…?’, or who would not desire to accomplish things in a younger body of your choice, try being a professional athlete or solve The World’s Greatest problem? But is shedding actually plausible? Could you really be immortal in this way? The interesting and, furthermore, intriguing aspect of this subject is that the ‘mind uploading’, also known as whole brain emulation (WBE), is the hypothetical futuristic process of scanning a physical structure of the brain accurately enough to create an emulation of the mental state (including long-term memory and “self”) and copying it to a computer in a digital form[1]. Mind uploading is an ongoing area of active research, bringing together ideas from neuroscience, computer science, engineering, and philosophy. The ‘mind’ is no longer seen in its narrow, psychological meaning, but it is viewed in a metaphysical concept, close to the R/S one, as encompassing all the particularities of an individual, both biologically, psychologically, and beyond. The idea has increased in content and developed in its purposefulness, but it resides in all its variety with the same characteristics: ‘the mind, a collection of memories, personality, and attributes of a specific individual, is transferred from its original biological brain to an artificial computational substrate’.[2] If the outer ‘image’ of one can be somehow captured with fidelity and without deviations so must be found a solution to do the same with his inner ‘image’; the process should be similar but with the ‘right’ tools. Furthermore, as the captured images of

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is extraordinary; some might say that their numbers exceed the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy[4]. Although much neurobiological research has progressed in the late period, yet comprehensive models of this system which include structural and functional flawless characteristics do not exist. Accordingly, the old controversy regarding the real relationship between mind and brain, and between mental and cerebral states, is still undetermined. As British ethicists Sarah Chan and John Harris point out, “despite the modern scientific understanding of the brain, the philosophical relationship between brain, body, mind, and identity remains elusive” [5], including perception, thinking, memory, emotions generating and operation, are conditional to the brain [6]. The modality of functioning in the neural system is much more intricate and effective compared with silicon-based systems. In organic systems, the main operating unit is molecular or cellular. This is opposite to the activity of electrons along a wire or in a semiconductor. Also considering the connectivity, the brain is exceptionally complex, with each neuron possessing direct connections with up to thousands of other neurons. Furthermore, the brain is working as a network depending on interactions from external stimulus, which can also be interpreted as if an activity is not sustained, it will gradually dissolve [7]. The ophthalmologist Walter Rudolf Hess was one of the first researchers which used neural implants for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1949 for mapping different areas of the brain. As early as the 1920s, he experimented with cats, by implanting very fine threads in their brains while they were being anesthetized. When the cats were awake, he then stimulated these wires using a weak electric current to examine their reactions [8]. Also in the early 1950s, psychiatrist

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Robert Galbraith Heath was the first researcher to implant electrodes deep into the living human brain of patients with very severe mental disorders. Patients frequently experienced remarkable and positive changes in mood and personality in the practice of stimulating electrodes [9]. Given these discoveries and developments, the possibility of neural interfaces, even considering devices that would permit an interaction amid a neural network and a system, such as a mechanical machine or a computer, along with a potential direct correlation between the mind and cyberspace, has been encouraged and also many other new ideas in futurology. This included the proposal of “entering” cyberspace or the capacity to stock a person’s mind into a computer. By several considerations, neuronal interface systems are presently ongoing, but many distinct types and stages of sophistication are prevalent for aforesaid devices. Various applications, in the example, are more functional and pragmatic, which might help disabled persons in recovering some of their lost functions, including the control of their limbs. Certainly, a critical extent of work is by now happening in aiming to focus the motor activity and sensory organs. In the further period to come, the utilizing of neuronal interface systems adopting a computer might eventually increase a person’s cognitive functions, including memory, reasoning speed, or access to data. But to maintain the use at normal parameters, balance and realism are also needed to not exaggerate the use. Ambitious ideas of bioelectronic neurocomputers and microelectronic neuroprostheses (an artificial device that has the function of replacing a missing part of the brain) will not be achievable in the near future, if not because of functional constraints. Furthermore, mentioned interventions

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interprets the message transmitted and triggers events or actions. This system would ensure the reading and use of information about the brain in the control of a limb. The second interface in a nervous system or input: add information from a living neural network from the outside, for example: from a computer. In fact, it could allow a cochlear implant to provide quite important information to the brain. The third interface consists of feedback loop systems: it interprets the information from a living neural network and sends it to an external processor, which then returns the information to the neural network. Considering the aforementioned, it should also be underlined that, as it is complicated to consult the future, it is impossible to know which technologies might get important in the evolution of neural interfaces and the resulting correlation of the mind with cyberspace. Furthermore, the list of neural interface systems represents just an abstract of what is yet starting to be created to introduce what may at some time be possible. A. Invasive Output Neuronal Interface

Systems

The first invasive neuronal experiments interfaced with electrodes positioned inside the brain included Rhesus monkeys as guinea pigs, and these experiments were conducted in the United States in the 1970s body movements [11-13]. More recent studies using the same mechanisms and the same type of guinea pigs have shown that there is a possibility that brain signals move a mechanically robotic upper limb. Studies on the same subject have reported increasing possibilities to restore the functionality of people with disabilities, and an experiment that took place in 2000 made it possible for the patient with the upper limb paralyzed after a stroke to be learned to move a computer cursor just by thinking

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have also subsidiary risks, particularly taking into consideration invasive procedures which alter the structure of the neural network. For this reason, research projects which are based on invasive systems are taken into consideration solely when the person has very serious problems. In this circumstance, brain modifications that would otherwise be classified as unethical might be recommended [10]. A brain-computer interface system can be described as a series of functional components. The starting point is the user, whose intention is coded in the neural activity of his brain (input). The endpoint is the device that is controlled by the user’s brain activity (output). There have also been a large interest in neural interfaces which register and refine brain activity in real-time using implanted electrodes. Furthermore, it raises the possibility of the brain to determine the way of incorporating this action into normal function. Furthermore, neural interfaces could be used to precisely control a patient’s paralyzed muscles. Undeniably such interfaces are adopted in order to directly stimulate the muscles for people with disabilities and at the same time collecting responses from the network of neurons accountable for the sense of equilibrium or motion in these people’s brains [9]. On the other hand, a very useful goal in the medical world, especially in neurological practice, would be to use these interfaces in rehabilitating patients who have suffered strokes but also in helping patients with neurodegenerative diseases who have also lost certain brain functions. can be replaced and replaced by these interfaces. Three types of neural interface systems can be described: The first type consists of the interface or output of the nervous system: it ensures the transmission of biological information from a neural network, such as the brain, to a computerized form that

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about certain hand movements [14]. Among the experiments performed, the best results were obtained in cases where the implantation by surgery of very small electrodes directly in the human brain at a depth of 1-3 mm and the transmission of signals from the human brain took place. This procedure allowed the reception and recording of signals from small groups of neurons allowing the best level of control until then [15]. The disadvantage, in this case, is that most brain functions are associated and depend on several groups of neurons so it would also be necessary to use more electrodes [16]. It would also be important to keep in mind that these invasive surgical maneuvers predispose to the formation of scar tissue which in turn will decrease the quality of the signal received from the electrodes and also having the possibility of causing immune side effects as it involves the inclusion of a non-self-compound in the body. B. Partially Invasive Output Neuronal

Interface Systems

There are also neural interface systems that have a less invasive action on the brain and can also analyze signals from the surface of the brain being located inside the skull. These systems have the advantage of not having such a negative effect on the brain not being implanted in the depths of the cortex, but also their positioning involves surgical maneuvers and also exposure to a risk of local infection [17]. Compared to non-invasive systems, the partially invasive ones determine a better spatial resolution, and the recordings have higher stability being inside the skull and of course, being compared to the invasive systems have a lower resolution of the recordings [18].

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C. Noninvasive Output Neuronal Interface

Systems

These types of interfaces analyze the activity of the brain by using neuroimaging which is manifested by applying electrodes to the surface of the cephalic extremity having advantages over the application of electrodes inside the skull by the fact that this maneuver excludes surgery and also excludes the risks associated with surgery such as brain damage. but also associated infections. Thus, a kind of image of what is happening in the brain is projected. These clinical applications for improving the quality of life of patients with disabilities are progressing slowly. These include neural interfaces that are used to analyze movement intentions for paralyzed patients [19]. They can also be helpful for patients who are unable to express themselves, such as patients with locked-in syndrome, who have intact cognitive functions, but cannot move or communicate verbally being completely paralyzed. As a consequence of medical studies, other requests are taken into consideration, including the gaming manufacture. Models of games that use non-invasive neural interfaces contain those in which members wear headphones at the same time trying to control, through their thinking, the movement of a small ball on a screen. The headphones count the activity of the brain through several electrodes located on the external part of a person’s skull, at the same time utilizing brain sensors united to wireless technology to control the ball [20]. D. Representants:

A representative is the cochlear implant device that interacts directly with the Neuroreceptors in the inner ear and is used especially in children who were born with hearing impairments and also in deaf adults

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Conclusions from the neurological research and, especially, knowledge gained from brain injuries, exists a possibility to reveal that this perception of self-consciousness is further related to unconscious capacities in the brain. Both provide clear features of conscious thoughts during the time of processing the daily operating of the human body, including respiration and digestion. The stated facts represent that unconscious processes, further to conscious capacities, are partly responsible for the manner of people understand themselves and others [6]. III. A Comparative Religious Overview

on the Subject

Collecting information from several religious perspectives on how holy books and traditions envisioned consciousness traveling, how a superior Ego can inhabit a/another body with different forms – sometimes conserving the existing Ego, others suppressing it and replacing it with the ‘traveler’ – it brings us closer to our purpose, establishing the possibility of CT as a doable creed and fact. The terms ‘consciousness’, ‘identity,’ or ‘mind’ do not appear in S/R traditions, still, the topic is frequently evoked concerning the ‘soul’. The soul is a power of the Divine Consciousness, which does not disintegrate and is always turned towards the spiritual realm, with which it connects the material one. It is often inexorably unbound to the body and this world, therefore it transcends them both, both quantitatively [by surviving them] and qualitatively [because it can access powers, capacities beyond the limits of material]. This ‘connection’ or ‘accessibility of other existence is frequently proven by the common existence of the ‘soul’ and ‘the divine.’ The thought behind our body is called soul, and the thought behind the universe is called God; the universal thought or universal consciousness. [21:111] However,

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or the elderly. The methodology involves inserting a small electrode into the cochlear region and stimulating local receptors, the electrode being connected to an electronic device that receives signals from an external sound processor, which is located on the scalp and also natural sounds are received by a microphone and then processed by the external unit. Deep brain stimulation occurs by placing electrodes in specific deep areas of the brain and is used to treat motor diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or dystonia. The electrodes are connected to the implantable pulse stimulator located in the pectoral area and the electrical signals applied to the brain block the characteristic symptoms such as uncontrolled movements and tremors. Spinal Cord stimulation is used in most cases so that electrical signals are transmitted to the affected area of the spine with the ultimate goal of treating chronic back pain by blocking pain and its signals at the root of the nerves preventing their transmission to the brain. Facilitation of understanding the concept of human identity considering the human person needs to take into account the idea that providing novel abilities to the mind of a person by installing technology might modify the sense of self. A person’s opinion about the advantages of technology can also be changed by the fact that he remains in control or if control is given to someone else. Regarding this, the existence of a powerful system that interacts directly with the human brain may be too limited to be worrisome, but it can also allow potential external powers to have direct and abusive access to a person’s inner being. It has described that novel interfaces, for example, might allow human minds to evade the confines of the human brain by merging with human computers to evolve into mergers of cyborg-like machines and organisms.

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this ‘connection’ does not entirely stand for soul-divine, but also for transpersonal interaction, influence, possession, et al. Under the topic of ‘possession’, we find our theme in most religious traditions, stories, and beliefs, as unusual behavior and a personality change that is interpreted as evidence that the person is under the direct control of an external power/being/ consciousness. Even if mostly associated with violent, unholy behavior, or exhibits terror or hatred to sacred persons or objects, it is not entirely correct or true. The phenomenon is indeed associated and thus recognized with/by strange behavior, such as uttering disconnected or strange speech, foretell events or predict individual destiny, therefore proving that the person/body we sensitively get in touch with has no previous relationship with the things he/she speak of, as prophecy. By this, we need to emphasize not the negative side of possession – in which case an exorcism is required to brutally, not-cooperatively remove the alien spirit that inhabits the host –, but the positive engagement of it, when the alien spirit helps the host overcome issues, solve situations, prevent certain unpleasant events, etc. In the Judeo-Christian Bible situations like this, underling positive possessions, are usual and looks like this “The Lord laid his hand on me and brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord to the middle of a valley that was filled with bones” (Ezekiel 37:1; 3:14; 8:3; 11:24; Revelation 1:10). Envisioned as ‘instrument’ [a stringed instrument, such as the harp] or as a messenger, each time a theory emerges about this humanalien spirit engagement the idea of their ‘cooperation’ bears always the same mark: the human is a vessel, a string, a carrier, an instrument, the host, while the visiting Spirit is the real author, feather, the novelist or playwright, the Spokesman. “I opened my mouth and drew the Spirit and gave all that is mine. I let him own me. I let him guide my hand. The intellect and the tongue to what Session 1. Spiritual Wellness

is due and what He wants ... I am a divine organ, an instrument of the Word”[22]. However, while the Bible considers humans as instruments for carrying God’s words, aware or not, in a state of awareness or in a trance, for other religious faiths the way God speaks through humans is more from the divine spirit and less from the human personality. For example, the Book of Mormon is the ‘translation’ made by Joseph Smith of the divine words brought upon Earth on special stones called “interpreters.” Another religious view is of Islam where the Quran (to recite) composed in an early form of Classical Arabic, is traditionally believed to be a literal transcript of God’s speech and to constitute the earthly reproduction of an uncreated and eternal heavenly original[23]. A particular idea in our regard is that Islam considers that the soul (Al-Ruh) leaves the body during sleep and “move freely about the world and gather knowledge about the Unseen, meets Shaytan in midair at his returning into the body and mixes the true with false, making the person that awakes a confused one”.[24] With these thoughts and beliefs the religious explanations of identity transfer, human vessel inhabited by an alien spirit, or ecstatic speaker are all very similar and precursor to the scientific development of this branch operating and researching on mind-uploading (WBE). A similar but rather branched belief is represented by the astral projection, how an astral Self can travel outside the body. The idea that humans can leave their bodies during dream states is ancient. Countless people, from New Agers to shamans around the world, believe that it is possible to commune with cosmic intelligence through visions and vivid dreams experienced during astral projection, also known as out-ofbody experiences. Surveys suggest that between 8 and 20 percent of people claim to have had something like an out-of-body

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the consciousness traveling but also for its transfer, from a person to another, from a body to others, without limitation and binderies of any kind, but with certain circumstances. Later scientific experiments lead us to see how much is fantasy or reality from these religious stories and how much we can hope and expect from future research in this regard.[25] Thus, it is pointless to emphasize the countless opportunities for astral projection uses. If proven, astral travel would be incredibly useful to the world. There would be no need to send humans into very dangerous conditions — such as nuclear disasters — to determine what the situation is. People whose consciousnesses can fly and move through walls would save lives during natural disasters such as earthquakes, easily moving through rubble and collapsed buildings to locate survivors and direct rescue workers to them. Astral projectors, like psychics, would be invaluable to police during mass shooting and hostage situations, describing exactly how many suspects there are, wherein the building they can be found, and other crucial details. The absence of these individuals during lifeor-death situations is revealing.[26] From these excerpts of the S/R realm understanding an important feature of ‘soul/consciousness’ is that it doesn’t lie in a single body part, e.g. brain or heart, even if they are implied. Instead “Gold means reaching an ultimate state of purity, a place of oneness, where your heart and mind become one (soul), where there is no separateness.” [21:112] For that reason ‘mapping’ and ‘mind-uploading concepts of neuroscience are still far from overlapping with religious understanding, while discussions and further research might prove otherwise. However, all these examples are far from being exhaustive and of course many other diggings into S/R traditions could raise interesting parallels

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experience at some point in their lives — a sensation of the consciousness, spirit, or “astral body” leaving the physical body. While most experiences occur during sleep or under hypnosis, some people claim to do it while merely relaxing. During the practice of meditation, the occurrence of selfgenerated and spontaneous thought and the tendency of the mind to wander away from the intended goal of meditation is an opportunity to understand how an individual is regarded, its uniqueness, and its states of awareness. Mind-wandering in the context of meditation provides individuals a unique and intimate opportunity to closely examine the nature of the wandering mind, cultivating the idea of astral projection, when the soul of an individual separates from its body and moves away to encounter other entities or possess/repossess bodies. This kind of ‘outta body’ experience is not strange to no religion, considering Christianism as well [“I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows… was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak” 2 Corinthians 12:3-4]. Another example to be considered here as a similar comparison to ‘astral projection’ is an episode where Christ expelled few spirits that they had made their home in the body of a living man, also ‘inhabited’ by his spirit. Mark 5 relates that those spirits, a legion in numbers, took possession over this man’s body, then Christ drove them away from him while they came out and entered unto a large herd of the pigs – all these prove that spirits as conscious existence can enter and possess a body, leave it and reenter another one, but not only as light into a glass bottle [doing nothing to change its existence], but as a new hand into a glove and making it move as the wandering spirit desires [Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:2; Mathew 9:33, 12:22, 17:18, etc]. these are religious proof not only for

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to scientific discoveries and cutting-edge assertions. For example, I am sure that astral projection – a difficult and rather obscure practice – is not just a singulary S/R belief in consciousness traveling, but a peculiar one, while there are still others with similar purpose. Any activities or phenomenon that implies ESP (extrasensory perception) – perception that occurs independently of the known sensory processes – are somehow linked with this kind of belief. There are no other explanations (from S/R perspective) for near-death experiences, resurections of deads, telepathy, precognition and other similar phenomena are all linked with death and the belief that ‘soul’ survives its body and travels from it to otherness, followed by a spam of explanations depending on the religious background, from taking an ether form to possessing other body, reconstructing the old early body, etc. That is why the rituals of passing are always the most vivid and rich for this ocean of unconsciousness become available to the passing soul or to pass on its spiritual/ energetic powers to the people left behind. This phenomena has a special interest in all S/R with a kind of assertion like Kualinī [in some Tantric (esoteric) forms of Yoga], the cosmic energy that is believed to lie within everyone which can help the soul enter other kind of existence, is pictured as a coiled serpent lying at the base of the spine. In the practice Laya Yoga (“Union of Mergence”), the adept is instructed to awaken the kualinī, also identified with the deity Shakti. Through a series of techniques that combine prescribed postures, gestures, and breathing exercises, the practitioner brings the kualinī up along the spine to his head. Conclusions It is obvious for all these reasons that a piece of truth must exist in all these beliefs scattered all over, in time and space, and for

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that matter further investigations should be made in this direction for indisputable reasons, improving life as we understand. Religious realm cannot interfere or condemn this natural, inescapable impetus of humans to discover what lies beyond the obvious creation, the misteries of existence, instead it can sustain it with its findings. First, we need to understand how memories are stored in your brain, a 3-pound lump of fatty tissue that contains about 86 billion brain cells called neurons by passing electricity or Chemicals. Some scientists believe memory is stored as a network of neurons that form links with each other and all fire at the same time same network of neurons fires together. In fact, scientists have shown that if you stimulate certain parts of the brain with electricity you can cause an individual to recall certain downloads of a memory. We could simply track which neurons are activated when you’re thinking about a memory. One day it would be possible to create a kind of map of all the neurons in the brain and the connections between them; this map is called a ‘connectome.’ Both the United States and the European Union have launched major research and once it’s done scientist should be able to build a computer virtual brain that would be able to send signals between neurons through artificial synapses. Thus, its downloading them should be possible thanks to a technique called ‘optogenetics’; this involves injecting specific neurons with DNA from LG that costs them to produce a light-sensitive protein on their cell surface. Scientists can artificially activate groups of neurons associated with particular memories. All this may sound pretty scary and make you think that as soon as that it would be done, we will found ourselves Self-less, devoided of inner souls, dehumanized. But this picture is unreal, purposefully deformed, since whole human understanding lies on a holistic recreation of existence from pieces of knowledge

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References [1] [2] [3]

[4] [5]

[6]

“Mind uploading”, https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Mind_uploading, accessed 20.2.2021. http://www.minduploading.org/, accessed 20.3.2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Brain%E2%80%93computer_interface, accessed 23.2.2021. https://brainmd.com/blog/how-your-brain-islike-the-universe/. S. Chan and J. Harris. ‘The Biological Becomes Personal: Philosophical Problems in Neuroscience’, in Royal Society, Brain Waves Module 1: Neuroscience, Society and Policy. London: The Royal Society (2011): 49-50. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Novel

Neurotechnologies: Intervening in the Brain. London: Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2013): 73, https://www.nuffieldbioethics. org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Novel_ neurotechnologies_report_PDF_web_0.pdf [7] R. Jones, ‘Brain Chips’, in D. Bruce (ed.), Human Enhancement? Ethical Reflections on Emerging Nanobio-technologies. Edinburgh: Edinethics Ltd. (2007): 100. [8] A. Keiper, ‘The Age of Neuroelectronics’, The New Atlantis 11 (2006): 4–41. [9] Ibid.; Schneider, Fins and Wolpaw, ‘Ethical Issues in BCI Research’. DOI:10.1093/ acprof:oso/9780195388855.003.0024 [10] I. Tracey, ‘Neural Interfaces and Brain Interference’, in Royal Society, Brain Waves Module 1: Neuroscience, Society and Policy. London: The Royal Society (2011). [11] E.M. Schmidt, M.J. Bak and J.S. McIntosh. ‘Long-Term Chronic Recording from Cortical Neurons’, Experimental Neurology 52/3 (1976): 496–506. [12] A.P. Georgopoulos, J.T. Lurito, M. Petrides, A.B. Schwartz and J.T. Massey. ‘Mental Rotation of the Neuronal Population Vector’, Science 243(1989): 234–36. [13] M.A. Lebedev, J.M. Carmena, J.E. O’Doherty et al.. ‘Cortical Ensemble Adaptation to Represent Velocity of an Artificial Actuator Controlled by a Brain–Machine Interface’, Journal of Neuroscience 25/19 (2005): 4681– 93. [14] P.R. Kennedy, R.A. Bakay, M.M. Moore, K. Adams and J. Goldwaithe. ‘Direct Control of a Computer from the Human Central Nervous System’, IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering 8/2 (2000): 198–202. [15] E.C. Leuthardt, G. Schalk, J. Roland, A. Rouse and D.W. Moran. ‘Evolution of Brain– Computer Interfaces: Going Beyond Classic Motor Physiology’, Neurosurgical Focus 27/1 (2009): 1–21. [16] A. Spiers, K. Warwick, M. Gasson and V. Ruiz. ‘Issues Impairing the Success of Neural Implant Technology’, Applied Bionics and Biomechanics 3(4) (2006): 297–304. [17] I.S. Kotchetkov, B.Y. Hwang, G. Appelboom, C.P. Kellner and E.S. Connolly, Jr. ‘Brain– Computer Interfaces: Military, Neurosurgical,

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took from all realms, spiritual, religious, philosophic, scientific, and beyond. If an association of the human mind of persons with cyberspace is possible through the development of neuronal interfaces, this might influence over time their free will and the direction in which they are deliberated to be accountable. No doubt, an improved mind may aid a person to detect things more apparently and to compare the options for certain reasoning. The meaning is that presenting additional facts accessible which can help a person to make better decisions, but not make them more moral. Enhancing a person’s mental functions using neural interfaces would not naturally increase the morality of the person, although it can make them more informed and responsible for their actions. Also, it will be partially dependent on anyone or anything else that acquires the information using the neural interface in this case necessitating special circumstances and caution. Although the benefits of neural implants are clear, it is helpful to consider potential negative effects on identity formation because neural interfaces cause changes in a person’s control and memory, thus affecting identity formation [30,31].

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and Ethical Perspective’, Neurosurg Focus 28(5) (2010): E25. [18] B.R. Cahn and J. Polich. ‘Meditation States and Traits: EEG, ERP, and Neuroimaging Studies’, Psychological Bulletin 132(2) (2006): 180–211. [19] N. Birbaumer and L.G. Cohen. ‘Brain– Computer Interfaces: Communication and Restoration of Movement in Paralysis’, Journal of Physiology 579(3) (2007): 621–36. [20] I.Tracey, ‘Neural Interfaces and Brain Interference’, in Royal Society, Brain Waves Module 1: Neuroscience, Society and Policy. London: The Royal Society (2011). [21] M Sharma, Ryan JF. “A journey of awakening: the emergence of consciousness.” MOJ Yoga Physical Therapy. 2018;3(4):110‒114. DOI: 10.15406/mojypt.2018.03.00056 [22] Hilarion Alfeyev in “Word and silence”, cited in Cosmin-Tudor Ciocan, “Jesus Christ - The Fulfillment Of Divine Revelation”, Sibiu: Astra Museum, 2012, 103. [23] Nicolai Sinai, “Qurʾān, sacred text”, in Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/ topic/Quran, accessed 24.4.2021. [24] Cosmin-Tudor CIOCAN, “The Value of the Soul in the Religious Views. An Overview targeting the Salvation of an Individual” in Dialogo, 6: 2 (2020), 239. DOI:10.18638/ dialogo.2020.6.2.21. [25] Smith, Andra M., and Claude Messier. “Voluntary Out-of-body Experience: An fMRI Study”. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8 (2014). doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00070. [26] Benjamin Radford, “Astral Projection: Just a Mind Trip”. https://www.livescience. com/27978-astral-projection.html [27] Y.J.Erden, ‘Neural Implants, Human Identity, and Perceptions of Illness’, Responsible Innovation (2013). URL: http://responsibleinnovation.org.uk/torrii/ resource-detail/1015. [28] B. Waters, From Human to Posthuman. Burlington, VT: Ashgate (2006).

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DIALOGO JOURNAL 7 : 2 (2021) 201 - 215

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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Associated Factors of Suicidal Behavior and Religiousness Ionut Eduard Bolboasa

Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences Bucharest University Romania

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 20 April 2021 Received in revised form 15 May Accepted 20 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.17

This cross-sectional study proposes to identify the differential between two groups of study participants divided into two lots, general population and addictive population, inhabitants of Constanta county, Romania, on religiosity and suicidal behavior, with its associated factors like depression, anxiety and stress. The research was conducted between May 2020 and July 2020, the methodological approach being non-experimental, descriptive-analytical, having a cross-sectional character and using the survey method based on questionnaire and the semi¬structured interview. Trying to identify the presence of suicidal risk factors and religiosity in the general population, but especially in addictive groups, can be a real challenge, as it is known that, in general, the clinical area has always provided sufficient research materials. As a conclusion of the study, the influence of religiosity on autolytic behavior as well as on depression is quite minor, invalidating the literature showing the inhibitory effects of religiosity, leading to the conclusion that religiosity alone cannot be an insurmountable barrier to suicidal behavior. This invalidation may increase the level of debate about the role of religion, but it can also enrich this literature through the results of this study. The approach of multidisciplinary prophylaxis regarding the suicidal phenomenon becomes imperatively necessary, and by carrying out some evaluations of religiosity and religious coping, one goes towards the early counteraction of some autolytic undesirable behaviors.

Keywords: religiosity; depression; anxiety; stress; suicidal behavior;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Ionut Eduard Bolboasa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Bolboasa, Ionut Eduard . ”Associated Factors of Suicidal Behavior and Religiousness. A cross-sectional study.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 23931744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 201-215. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.17

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A cross-sectional study

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I. INTRODUCTION

“Suicide, the most serious complication of depressive pathology, can be prevented with the contribution of religion”[1]. We use the general term suicidal behavior to refer to a person’s thoughts and behaviors related to the intentional suppression of their own life [2]. Several terms, such as deliberate self-harm and suicide, are still widely used, encompassing under their “umbrella” all non-lethal acts of self-harm, whether behind these forms of behavior is suicidal intent. Much of the difficulty in defining suicidal behavior stems from the broad spectrum of outcomes that the term must describe, perpetuating an inaccuracy in classification [3]. Fatal suicidal behavior tends to have social, clinical, and demographic characteristics that are very different from those of nonfatal suicidal behavior, leading to the adoption of a number of terms in an attempt to cover these differences. Depression is broadly defined as a morbid mental state, characterized by a decrease in the tone of mental and motor activity, accompanied by an asthenic mood, exaggerated sadness, fatigue and anxiety. Depressive symptoms and spiritual or religious practices are widespread throughout the world, but the relationship between them has received relative attention, especially in the area of mental health. Depression is a mental illness that can take on a dramatic aspect through personality deterioration, leading to a chronic evolution, or can manifest as a temporary disorder of adaptation to the requirements of daily life, representing the most common psychiatric syndrome encountered in medical practice [4]. Depression is by far the most studied disease related to religiosity and spirituality,

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because, through the specific negative symptoms, it is at the opposite pole to the positive precepts that most religions seek to promote. Thus, hope, happiness, identifying the meaning of life and an overview of the world, comes to counteract the symptoms of depression. Anxiety is defined as “the emotional state characterized by a feeling of insecurity, disorder, diffuse” [5]. It is a psychological and physiological state that manifests itself both cognitively, physiologically and behaviorally, but especially at a subjective level, expressed in feelings of fear, worry, tachycardia, palpitations, dizziness, sweating, nausea. Symptoms of general anxiety include: increased heart rate, rapid breathing, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, difficulty falling asleep. Stress is a “syndrome, a constellation of non-specific responses, with a general adaptive character (general adaptation syndrome) caused by the aggression of stressors on the body. It includes both injury, wear and tear, suffering, and nonspecific adaptive reactions mediated by neuroendocrine links ” [6]. Religiosity is a multifaceted concept that incorporates cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioral aspects. For various authors, religion includes two aspects: religious faith and religious institution. Thus, religion is defined by a set of beliefs, a doctrine, rituals and practices, these being identifiable in a community of believers [7]. Religiosity is the participation and involvement of the individual in religious activities, such as attendance at church service or Sunday school, as well as the importance that an individual gives to religion through personal behaviors, such as prayer and meditation. In general, empirical research and clinical studies suggest that religiosity has a positive influence on the mental health and overall

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II. Literature Review

Numerous meta-analyzes of published studies have identified an association between religious practice and symptoms of depression, confirming the findings of other researchers who have reviewed the literature [12]. The large number of cross-sectional or longitudinal studies performed on depression, led to the conclusion that religiosity contributes significantly to the decrease of depressive symptoms, leading to a faster recovery [12]. Other studies have shown a negative influence of religion, and an inverse relationship in the use of religiosity to reduce depression, in some communities where increasing self-blame has led to discouragement of those who failed to reach the high standards of their religious tradition [12]. Many studies have reported the relationship between religiosity and positive

psychological factors [13]. For example, it was concluded that people who reported being religious also reported higher levels of self-esteem, hope, and satisfaction in life. In further support of the positive relationships between religiosity and well-being, George, Ellison, and Larson found that religious people reported higher levels of physical health [14]. However, as mentioned below, certain forms of religious experience, such as insecure attachment to God, can have negative effects on the individual [15]. Although these studies present religiosity as a positive element in combating factors associated with autolytic behaviors by reducing negative symptoms, many other studies talk about the negative effects of religiosity on the human individual [12]. Factors that appear to affect the protective effect of spirituality and religiosity against depression include, in addition to genetic material, fundamental social components such as family, educational, social support, and personal components and characteristics, such as coping with stress. While depression and other mood disorders are the number one risk factors for suicide, addictions such as alcohol and drug abuse, even in the absence of depression, are ranked second. Compared to the general population, addicts are a category with a high level of risk of successful or unsuccessful suicide attempts. Many centers and organizations in the United States such as The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality concluded that the most important predictor of suicidal behavior is no longer represented by psychiatric diagnosis, its place being taken by alcoholism, studies show that people addicted to alcohol are

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functioning of the individual [8]. This goes beyond the realm of psychopathology, including positive traits related to general happiness, life satisfaction, building meaning and goals in life, and other more concrete outcomes such as longevity, education, and income [9]. According to Strelan, Acton and Patrick, religion influences the lives of billions of people [10]. For many people, religious beliefs involve more than explicit behavior. For example, some people choose to place God at the center of their daily lives. Moreover, Exline note that many people rely on their religion to meet emotional needs, along with attachment needs [11]. Thus, socio-demographic variables are beginning to take shape quite well as moderating elements for tilting the balance and clarifying the role and position of religiosity in the clinical sphere.

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six times more likely to he commits suicide. Addiction does not only increase the likelihood of adopting suicidal behavior, addiction itself being used as a method of suicide. According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness in the United States, one in three people who die by suicide is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Regarding the relationship of religiosity with anxiety, religiosity may provide security in existential problems, but those who are insecure about their beliefs or who question these beliefs are more anxious [16]. There is evidence in studies that identify a link between anxiety and religiosity - spirituality, being presented as too general, ignoring other important variables. Thus, in two studies conducted on this topic it was identified that the relationship between the two variables disappeared when social support, chronic diseases, poverty and disability were present [17]. Researchers studying death-related anxiety increasingly conclude that norms and culture have as strong an impact as religious beliefs or practices on anxiety. Longitudinal studies and randomized clinical trials have helped determine the direction of causation in the relationship between anxiety and religion. Four of the five longitudinal studies on religion and anxiety, published before 2000, found that those who were more religious were less likely to experience fear or anxiety in later years [18]. Thus, six of the seven clinical trials that used religious psychotherapy found that the intervention lowered the level of anxiety. Although some religious beliefs and practices may lead to the development of anxiety for some individuals, most research suggests that anxiety motivates religious activity, which seems to lead to a low level of anxiety. Regarding the relationship of religiosity to despair, the theory of suicide based on hopelessness is a cognitive theory that Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

suggests that despair is an important cognitive vulnerability associated with the risk of suicide [19]. Specifically, hope is considered to reflect a cognitive style consisting of negative attributions about the future and the inability of some to improve their future prospects. In support of this perspective, several studies in non-psychotic populations suggest that assessing despair may help identify those at increased risk of suicide. Kuo, Gallo, and Eaton examined a large community sample and found that hopelessness predicted suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, and completed suicide over a 13-year follow-up period [20]. Similar results have been reported for clinical populations in a cross-sectional study, that a high lack of hope distinguished those with multiple suicide attempts from those who had had a single suicide attempt [21]. In addition, hopelessness has been a valid predictor of completed suicide among psychiatric patients, followed for 10 to 20 years [22], [23]. Indeed, hopelessness is constantly highlighted in guidelines for conducting risk assessments of suicidal behavior [24]. The aforementioned studies have made valuable discoveries that have transformed our understanding of suicidal reality. III. Objectives

The general objective of the study is to explore the relationship of suicidal behavior, suicide risk factors and religiosity. We will stop in investigating these relationships, in addition to suicidal behavior and stress, anxiety and depression, to capture what kind of relationship there is between them and religiosity, thus resulting in the following specific objectives: [1] The first specific objective of the study wants to explore the relationship between addictive population

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[2]

[3]

IV. Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1. There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the determinants of suicidal behavior. Hypothesis 2. There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on religiosity. Hypothesis 3. There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on factors associated with suicide risk. Hypothesis 4. There is a statistically significant effect of the factors associated with suicidal risk on suicidal behavior, moderated by intrinsic religiosity and belonging to the addictive group. V. Research Variables

In order to test statistical hypotheses, the research plan involves collecting data for several relevant variables: [1] Religiosity is a continuous variable that will function in research design as a

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

dependent variable and a moderating variable. Suicidal behavior is a continuous variable that will function in research design as a dependent variable. Depression is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable. Anxiety is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable. Stress is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable. VI. Participants

The research was based on a number of 300 participants, 151 women (50%) and 149 men (49.3%), aged between 20 and 73 years (M = 41.71 years, SD = 11.86 years), divided into two lots, inhabitants of Constanta county, Romania. In terms of the main independent variable, the research group, it contains, in each group, a number of 150 subjects. In the general group, the 150 participants have an average age of 39.61 years (M = 39.61 years, SD = 10.60 years), and the group contains a number of 75 women (50.00%) and 75 men (50.00%). The second group, the addictive one, also contains 150 participants, persons from the clinical population, who volunteered, the study tools being applied exclusively on the participants in the support groups from the specialized centers and the individual psychology offices. The distribution by biological gender indicates a number of 74 men (49.30%) and 76 women (50.70%). VII. Research Instruments

The Suicidal Behaviors QuestionnaireRevised (SBQ-R; Osman et al., 2001), consists

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[4]

membership and determinants of suicidal behavior. The second specific objective of the study is to explore the relationship between belonging to the addictive population and religiosity. The third specific objective of the study is to explore the relationship between belonging to the addictive population and the factors associated with suicide risk. The fourth specific objective of the study is to explore the relationship between the factors associated with suicidal risk and suicidal behavior by introducing the two moderators, respectively intrinsic religiosity and belonging to the addictive group.

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of 4 items, measuring suicidal ideation or suicide attempt in the last year, items that have proven to be good predictors for future suicides, how often suicidal thoughts have occurred in the last year, but also the likelihood of suicidal behavior in the next period. It has a internal consistency (a = .88). I translated it from the English version. Religious Orientation Scale (ROS; Allport & Ross, 1967), remained in time the most known and most used measuring instrument in the field of religious psychology. ROS is a scale with 20 Likert-type items with 5 categories, which are divided into two subscales. The first subscale contains 9 items (1-9) and measures intrinsic religiosity, and the second subscale measures extrinsic religiosity and contains 11 items (11-20). I translated it from the English version. Scales for depression, anxiety and stress (DASS 21-R; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) is an instrument that contains three selfassessment scales with 21 items that test the emotional states in the area of depression, anxiety and stress. The adaptation and standardization of DASS-21R on the Romanian population were done by Perte and Albu (2011). VIII. Procedure

The research was conducted between May 2020 and July 2020, the methodological approach being non-experimental, descriptive-analytical, having a crosssectional character and using the survey method based on a questionnaire, as a quantitative method, but also the semistructured interview. To begin with, we used in the research the semi-structured interview, which included aspects such as socio-demographic data and medical history and psychiatric. The participants were recruited from the sphere of addictions, respectively the addiction recovery centers, where they attend the

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support groups and specific therapies, being included in the group of addictive population. The obtained data were centralized in a database, and the statistical processing was performed using the IBM SPSS program, version 20.0. Theoretical support was fundamental to the application approach. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, after theoretically researching the issues proposed in the analysis of the concept and theories about the issues studied, we proceeded to the actual analysis of the data collected, respectively the application. IX. Analysis And Interpretation Of Data A. Hypothesis 1

1. The first alternative hypothesis postulates as a null hypothesis that: “There is no statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the determinants of suicidal behavior.” Because the determinants of suicidal behavior cannot be assimilated to a continuous variable, generally having an amplitude of 3 points (future suicidal behavior has an amplitude of 8 points), the parametric approach of the hypothesis will not be possible, using the Mann Whitney based on average rank. As expected, the mean rank is statistically significantly higher in the addictive population compared to the general population, therefore the null hypothesis of the study can be rejected. Thus, the assumptions that suicidal ideation is statistically significantly higher in the addictive population compared to the general one (Z = 8.94, p <.01, r2 = 0.36) as well as future suicidal ideation (Z = 12.51, p <) become plausible. 01, r2 = 0.51), past threats with suicide (Z = 10.55, p <.01, r2 = 0.43) and future suicide attempts (Z = 13.91, p <.01, r2

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B. Hypothesis no.2

1. The second alternative hypothesis postulates as a null hypothesis that “There is no statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on religiosity.” In this case, we consider both religiosity in general and its components, intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Regarding general religiosity, the variable can be assimilated to a normally distributed continuous variable, therefore we will use the Student’s test to compare the averages of the independent populations from which the samples come, a test starting from the assumption of equal variances in the two groups, verified assumption of the Levene test of equality of variances which has as its null hypothesis that “The variances in the two populations from which the samples come are equal”, a hypothesis that cannot be rejected (F = .03, p = .85), the assumption of variance equality accomplished. However, the result of the statistical test shows that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected either (t (268) = .40, p = .68), therefore, there is no statistically significant difference in terms of religiosity between the general population (M = 61.84) and the addictive population (M = 61.51), also suspecting the absence of this difference on

the components of religiosity. Because the components of religiosity can be assimilated to normally distributed continuous variables, they will be subjected to the same statistical treatment. The assumption of the equality of variances is fulfilled only in the case of intrinsic religious orientation (F = .10, p = .75), while in the case of extrinsic religious orientation there is a statistically significant difference in terms of variances in the two groups (F = 31.64, p <.01), which leads to the violation of this assumption. In any case, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected either in the case of intrinsic religious orientation (t (268) = .64, p = .51) or for extrinsic religious orientation (t (267,497) = 1.24, p = .21), therefore, belonging to the addictive group does not statistically significantly affect people’s religiosity. Referring to the statistical analysis in my example we reject the hypothesis. C. Hypothesis no.3

The third alternative hypothesis postulates as a null hypothesis that “There is no statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the factors associated with suicide risk”, more precisely on depression, anxiety and stress. Even if for these dependent variables the test of comparing the normal theoretical distribution with the empirical distribution allows the rejection of the null hypothesis, the variables are still symmetrically and mesocurtically distributed, which allows us to use multivariate unifactorial analysis as a statistical method and analysis of canonical discrimination functions. In a first stage we are interested in verifying the equivalence of the covariance matrices determined by the dependent variables and the assumption of the homogeneity of the variants starting from

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= 0.57). Regarding the general suicidal behavior, due to the failure to assume the assumption of univariate normality, we will use the same statistical procedure and reach the same conclusion: in the addictive population, suicidal behavior is statistically significantly higher (Mrang = 193.69) compared to the general population (Mrang = 64.91 , Z = 13.67, p <.01, r2 = 0.56). Even if this finding is not a novelty in itself, it will serve as a basis for the analysis of future hypotheses. Referring to the statistical analysis in my example we confirm the hypothesis.

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the null hypotheses: The matrices of covariant variances are identical in the two groups determined by the independent variable. The variances in the two groups for each dependent variable taken separately are equal. Regarding the first assumption, we find the rejection of the null hypothesis, having to do with a statistically significant difference regarding the matrices of variancecovariance, as indicated by the Box test (M (6. 472017.36) = 39.71, p <.01), the same this is also valid in the case of homogeneity of variances only for the variable “anxiety” (Levene (anxiety, 1. 268) = 7.28, p <.01), for the variables “depression” and “stress” the assumption of homogeneity of variances being fulfilled (Levene (depression) , 1. 268) = 1.39, p = .23; Levene (stress, 1. 268) = .70, p = .40), therefore the analysis will be conducted in the conditions in which the robustness of multivariate statistics will not be able to be ensured for the first dependent variable. Using in this sense the most robust multivariate statistical test, the Pillai-Bartlett test, we find the existence of a statistically significant effect of the group of participants on the factors associated with suicide risk, including on the relationships between them, the null hypothesis being rejected (F Pillai (2. 266 ) = 44.01, p <.01, n2 = .33). Regarding the three main effects exerted by the independent variable on the dependent variables, we find that all are statistically significant (F (anxiety, 1. 269) = 4.66, p <.05, n2 = .01; F (depression, 1. 269) = 116.01, p <.01, n2 = .30; F (stress, 1. 269) = 4.26, p <.05, n2 = .01), by far the most affected being depression. The contrast test, in case of depression, indicates a statistically significant estimated contrast (CE = 3.80, p <.01, SE = .35), the mean of depression in the addictive population (M = 8.82) being statistically significantly higher Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

compared to the mean depression in the general population (M = 5.02). In the case of anxiety, the estimated contrast is also statistically significant (CE = .72, p <.05, SE = .34) the average anxiety in the addictive population (M = 6.48) being statistically significantly higher compared to the average anxiety in the general population (M = 5.74), even if, in this case, we observe a higher share of estimation errors. A reversal of the effect is found in the case of stress (CE = -.62, p <.05, SE = .30), this time the average stress in the addictive population (M = 6.43) is statistically significantly lower compared to the average stress in the general population (M = 7.05). The second stage of the analysis involves identifying the effect of the independent variable on the relationship between the three dependent variables, how the dependent variables contribute to the differentiation of clinical and non-clinical persons, performing, in this sense, an analysis of discrimination function given by the relationship: The second stage of the analysis involves identifying the effect of the independent variable on the relationship between the three dependent variables, how the dependent variables contribute to the differentiation of clinical and non-clinical persons, performing, in this sense, an analysis of discrimination function is given by the relationship:

Based on the three dependent variables, we will try to predict in which group we can include the subjects, the “F” factor representing a latent factor resulting from the linear combination of the dependent variables. Indeed, analyzing the values of the

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“F = 0.99 x Depression + 0.03 x Anxiety - 0.35 x Stress” “F = -1.56 + 0.34 x Depression + 0.01 x Anxiety 0.14 x Stress”

Analyzing the structure matrix (canonical loads), the greatest correlation with the latent classification factor (F) is depression (.93), then anxiety (.18) and stress (-.17), the last dependent variable having, as we have seen, a negative effect. We also observe the average values of the latent factor “F” for each group, finding that they differentiate quite well the group of people in the general population (M = -.77) from that of addictive people (M = .63), the distance between the two coordinates centroid being quite high, the correct classification rate being over 70%.” Following the analysis of hypothesis number three which postulates that “There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the factors associated with suicide risk”, more precisely on depression, anxiety and stress we notice that depression has the largest share, followed by distance anxiety, stress having a negative effect.

Referring to the statistical analysis in my example we confirm the hypothesis. D. Hypothesis no. 4

1. In the analysis of hypotheses number four we will also start from two null hypotheses: Suicide risk factors do not have statistically significant effects on suicidal behavior. Intrinsic religiosity and membership in the addictive group do not statistically significantly moderate the effects of factors associated with suicidal behavior on suicidal behavior. The data analysis method used will be that of multiple hierarchical moderate regression, where the direct effects will be those determined by the factors associated with suicide risk (depression, anxiety, stress), using the following model expressed in the form of the following structure diagram:

Figure 1. Structure diagram corresponding to the hypothesis analysis

The analysis aims to test a number of 3 regression models with main effects and 9 with interaction effects, including, successively, moderation effects, avoiding multicollinearity being achieved by the same method of centering the average of the predictors. We find that at the level of this analysis the assumption of residue independence

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covariance matrix results in a single latent factor that can explain the membership in the two groups based on the three dependent variables (Eigenvalue = .49, ConCor = .56, Wilk (3) = .66, p <. 01), the explanatory and classification power of the subjects being statistically significantly higher than zero. The standardized coefficients of the canonical discrimination function are .99 for depression, -.35 for stress and .03 for anxiety. Obviously, the most important contribution to the classification is depression, followed by stress and anxiety, the relationship expressed in standard scores and in raw scores becoming:

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is fulfilled, despite small positive residual correlations (Durbin-Watson = 1.70), the analysis of the main effects leading to similar results. The first hierarchical model explains approximately 37.8% of the variance of general suicidal behavior (R2 = .37), its predictive power being statistically significantly higher than zero in the population (F (3,266) = 55.43, p <.01). The analysis of regression coefficients shows that only depression and stress are statistically significant predictors of suicidal behavior (t = 12.30, p <.01 and t = 4.02, p <.01, respectively), not anxiety (t = .11, p = .91 ), the indicators of inflationary tolerance assessing the fulfillment of the assumption of the lack of multicollinearity of predictors (the lowest value having anxiety - .95), the model is described by the equations:

Indeed, the first null hypothesis can be rejected and we can postulate the existence of a statistically significant effect of the factors associated with suicidal risk on the general suicidal behavior, more precisely of depression and stress. In the first case, increasing the score by one point on the depression scale leads to a .55 point increase in the score on general suicidal behavior, while increasing the score by one point on the stress scale reduces suicidal behavior by .24 points. The introduction of intrinsic religiosity as a predictor does not bring statistically significant changes to the model (F (change, 1. 265) = 0.02, p = .88), but with the introduction, in the third model, of the addictive group, the predictive power doubles, as in the previous case (R2 = .70, F

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(change, 1. 264) = 300.03, p <.01):

There are no problems regarding the inflationary variance of the predictors, the tolerances being between .65 and .98, so the model does not present a risk of multicollinearity, the most important predictor being obviously the membership of the addictive group, this increasing by 4.46 points the score for suicidal behavior. (t = 17.34, p <.01), a value close to that obtained when verifying the previous hypothesis. The second most important predictor is depression (t = 4.96, p <.01), an increase of one point in the score for depression causing an increase of 0.18 points in the score for general suicidal behavior, followed by stress (t = 2.29, p <.05 ), which correlated negatively with the criterion, therefore the increase by one point of the score on the stress scale determining the reduction of the score on suicidal behavior by 0.10 points. At the limit, we could appreciate a negative relationship of the criterion with the intrinsic religious orientation (t = 1.96, p = .05), the increase of the score at this scale by one point determining the reduction of the general suicidal behavior by 0.03 points. The only irrelevant predictor is anxiety (t = 0.15, p = .88), its predictive power not being different from zero in the population. We have a model with a series of suppressive effects and with a slightly improved predictive power (R2 = .71, F (change, 1. 259) = 7.80, p <.01), the only important predictors being belonging to the addictive group (t = 17.74, p <.01) and the interaction between depression and belonging to the addictive group (t = 2.79,

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X. Discussion of Results on Hypotheses

Analyzing the results of hypothesis number one which postulates that “There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the determinants of suicidal behavior”, we conclude that this type of behavior is statistically significantly higher in participants in the addictive group compared to participants in the population, confirming the specialized literature that presents addictive people as being in the risk area. Also, analyzing the results of hypothesis number two which postulates that “There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on religiosity” we observe that there is no statistically significant difference in terms of religiosity between participants in the general population and those in the population. addictive, the null hypotheses are not rejected, so belonging to the addictive group does not statistically significantly affect people’s religiosity. Following the analysis of hypothesis number three which postulates that

“There is a statistically significant effect of belonging to the addictive population on the factors associated with suicide risk”, more precisely on depression, anxiety and stress we notice that depression has the largest share, followed by long-distance anxiety, stress having a negative effect. Continuing with hypothesis number four which postulates that “There is a statistically significant effect of suicide risk factors on suicidal behavior, moderated by intrinsic religiosity and addiction group” we observe by analyzing regression coefficients that anxiety is not a statistically significant predictor, only predictors being depression and stress. By rejecting the first null hypothesis that “Factors associated with suicidal risk do not exert statistically significant effects on suicidal behavior” we observe that by increasing the score by one point on the depression scale we determine the increase of .55 points in the overall suicidal behavior, while increasing the score by one point on the stress scale results in a reduction in suicidal behavior by .24 points. In the second null hypothesis that postulates that “Intrinsic religiosity and membership in the addictive group do not statistically significantly moderate the effects of factors associated with suicidal behavior on suicidal behavior” we observe that intrinsic religiosity does not bring significant changes to the model except in the third model by introducing the addictive group, which determines the doubling of the predictive power. The only irrelevant predictor is anxiety, its predictive power not being different from zero in the population. It is observed that the main effect of depression, an important initial effect, is taken over and moderated completely by belonging to the addictive group. The mere presence in the addictive group, we already know, determines the increase of the score

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p <.01). It is observed with the main effect of depression, an important initial effect, it is taken over and moderated completely by belonging to the addictive group. The mere presence in the addictive group, we already know, determines the increase of the score for suicidal behavior by 4.54 points, and for each additional point on the scale of depression, for people in the clinical group, another .15 points are added to suicidal behavior. The second null hypothesis can therefore be rejected, noting again that the effect of belonging to the addictive group on suicidal behavior is statistically significant while being moderately positive for depression. Referring to the statistical analysis in my example we confirm the hypothesis.

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for suicidal behavior by 4.54 points, and for each additional point on the scale of depression, for the people in the clinical group, another .15 points are added to the suicidal behavior. XI. Theoretical Implications

Bringing the psychology of religion back to the forefront by using variables and specific instruments and joining it to clinical psychology in order to evaluate the human individual as thoroughly as possible is an approach that tries to answer one of the questions that trouble the scientific community “Can religion be a singular element strong enough to diminish autolytic behavior?” Such questions have been circulating in the literature, being the subject of various cross-sectional or longitudinal research, the answers being often contradictory. A first contribution to the extension of the theory is represented by the introduction of suicidal behavior in relation to religiosity, respectively its role on autolytic behavior. Also, the present study manages to redundantly confirm the leading position of depression as the element with the highest degree of predictability in relation to suicidal behavior. It can also be emphasized, as an element of novelty, that the element that had a fairly large influence on the predictive models, is represented by belonging to the addictive group. Surprising was the role of stress in relation to suicidal behavior, being well known in the literature its position as a predictor. Not at all surprising was the position of anxiety in relation to suicidal behavior, thus outlining more and more clearly its minor role in predictive models, confirming the literature. XII. Practical Implications

The results of this research are important

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in the professional practice of clinical and social psychologists due to the small number of existing studies in Romania that include participants from the general population and participants from the addictive population in relation to religiosity. This study sought to emphasize that various researches related to the role and position of religiosity in combating suicide can generate many contradictions that can lead to a repositioning of existing empirical studies. A more accurate assessment of the human individual in an existential crisis presenting a suicidal risk may include in psychological practice, in addition to the classic instruments used in the assessment of depression and standardized tools on alcoholism and other addictions. We consider that the main contribution of this study to the change of psychological practice is given by the overwhelming role of the presence of addiction in the crystallization of suicidal behavior, but also of the secondary position of religiosity in relation to the criterion. A. Limitation

Like any other research, this study is characterized by a number of limitations. First, it is a cross-cutting approach, which does not allow causal conclusions to be drawn about the relationships between variables. Given that the group of subjects used in this research comes from a certain geographical and cultural area, caution should be exercised in generalizing the research results to other categories of the population, but especially the fact that it was conducted only on the orthodox population. The main limitation of the study is represented by the dependent variable itself, namely suicidal behavior, which could not be measured in the population with

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autolytic history due to extremely limited access to this type of participants. Another limitation of the study is the rather large number of instruments used in the evaluation, which generated a considerable number of variables that were not the subject of this study.

The study “Associated factors of suicidal behavior and religiousness” sought to identify the role of religiosity in relation to suicidal behavior and the factors associated with suicidal risk to clarify the position of religiosity in relation to them. Although specialized studies speak of the positive role of religiosity in relation to mental health (Koenig, 2005) however, various studies appear that speak of the reduced power of religiosity over autolytic behavior (Galek et al., 2015). The present research tried to identify the position of religiosity as an important element in combating the suicidal phenomenon, but the results showed that this is a secondary one. Regarding the first specific objective of the study that tried to differentiate the level of suicide risk in the addictive population from the general one, we can say that this objective was achieved. The second specific objective of the study tried to highlight the existence of a difference regarding the religiosity between the 2 groups of participants, but the data analysis excluded its existence. We can say that this objective was achieved. Regarding the third specific objective of the study that aims to explore the relationship between belonging to the addictive population and factors associated with suicide risk, respectively depression, anxiety and stress we can say that this goal was achieved, although the stress variable had a negative effect.

References [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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Paloutzian, R. F., Park, C. L. (Eds.). Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. The Guilford Press, 2005. O’Connor, R. & Nock, M.,. The psychology of suicidal behaviour. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1, (2014): 73-85. doi:10.1016/S22150366(14)70222-6. O’Carroll, P. W., Berman, A. L., Maris, R. W., Moscicki, E. K., Tanney, B. L., & Silverman, M. M.. Beyond the Tower of Babel: a nomenclature for suicidology. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 26, (1996): 237252. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.1996. tb00609.x . Chirita, R. Depresie si suicid, dimensiuni biologice si axiologice. Constanta: Editura Fundatiei Andrei Saguna, 2002.

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Conclusions

The fourth specific objective of the study introduced moderating variables, thus trying to highlight the role of moderator of religiosity but this proving to be minor, the only predictive power proving its belonging to the addictive group. We can say that this objective was achieved. Although this contribution may seem to be of a moderate level, it would be good to consider it, especially when it comes to the addictive population, where the level of suicidal behavior is much higher than previously thought. A similar situation is encountered in the case of determinants of suicidal behavior, knowing from the literature that depression and anxiety, but also stress, that they are directly related to suicidal behavior. The position of moderator of religiosity in this research did not cause major changes in the relationship of independent variables in relation to dependent ones, it was even observed that religiosity failed to be statistically significant in relation to suicidal behavior.

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Silamy, N. Dictionar de Psihologie [Dictionary of Psychology]. Larousse, Bucuresti: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998. [6] Aradavoaice, G. Stres, Eustres, Distres. Terapii antistres [Stress, Eustres, Distres. Anti-stress therapies]. Bucuresti: Editura Antet, 2010. [7] Fallot, R.(2001). The Place of Spirituality and Religion in Mental Health Services. New directions for mental health services. (1998): 79-88. 10.1002/yd.23319988003. [8] Levin, J. S., & Chatters, L. M. Religion,health,and psychological well being in older adults: findings from three national surveys. Journal of aging and health, 10 (1998): 5 0 4 - 5 3 1 . doi:10.1177/089826439801000406. [9] Zika, S., & Chamberlain, K.On the relation between meaning in life and psychological well-being. British Journal o f Psychology, 83(1), (1992).: 133-145. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1992.tb02429.x. [10] Strelan, P., Acton, C., & Patrick, K. Disappointment with God and wellbeing: The mediating influence of relationship quality and dispositional forgiveness. Counseling and Values, 53 (3) , (2009).:202213. doi:10.1002/j.2161-007X.2009. tb00126.x. [11] Exline, J. J., Park, C. L., Smyth, J. M., & Carey, M. P. Anger toward God: Socialcognitive predictors, prevalence, and links with adjustment to bereavement and cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(1), (2011): 129-148. doi:10.1037/a0021716. [12] Koenig, H. Faith and Mental Health: Religious Resources for Healing. Bibliovault OAI Repository: the University of Chicago Press, 2005. [13] McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. Prayer. In W.R. Miller (Ed.), Integrating spirituality into treatment: Resources for practitioners American Psychological Association (1999): 85 -110, [5]

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doi:10.1037/10327-005. George, L. K., Ellison, C. G., & Larson, D. B. Explaining the relationships between religious involvement and health. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), (2002): 190- 200. doi:10.1207/ S15327965PLI1303_04. [15] Galek, K., Flannelly, K. J., Ellison, C. G., Silton, N. R., & Jankowski, K. R. B. Religion, meaning and purpose, and mental health. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(1), (2015): 1. https://doi. org/10.1037/a0037887. [16] Harris, J. I., Schoneman, S. W., & Carrera, S. R. Approaches to religiosity related to anxiety among college students. Mental Health, Religion &Culture,5(2002): 253-265. doi:10.1080/13674670110112730. [17] Koenig, H. G., Westlund, R. E., George, L. K., Hughes, D. C., Blazer, D. G., & Hybels, C. Abbreviating the Duke Social Support Index for use in chronically ill elderly individuals. Psychosomatics: Journal of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry, 34, (1993): 61 -69, doi:10.1016/S0033-3182(93)71928-3. [18] Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. Oxford University Press. (2001). doi:10.1093/ acprof:oso/9780195118667.001.0001. [19] Abramson, L. Y., Alloy, L. B., Hogan, M. E., Whitehouse, W. G., Gibb, B. E., Hankin, B. L., & Cornette, M. M. The hopelessness theory of suicidality. In T. E. Joiner & M. D. Rudd (Eds.), Suicide science: Expanding the boundaries (p. 17-32). K l u w e r Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000. [20] Kuo, W. H., Gallo, J. J., & Eaton, W. W. Hopelessness, depression, substance disorder, and suicidality - a 13-year community-based study. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 39, (2004):497501. doi:10.1007/s00127-004-0775-z. [21] Forman, E.M., . Berk, M. S., . Henriques, G. R., Brown, K.G. and Beck, A. T. History of Multiple Suicide Attempts as a Behavioral Marker of Severe Psychopathology. The [14]

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American Journal of Psychiatry. (2004) doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.3.437. [22] Beck, A. T., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. Prediction of eventual suicide in psychiatric inpatients by clinical ratings of hopelessness. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 57,(1989):309-310. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.57.2.309. [23] Brown, G. K., Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Grisham, J. R. Risk factors for suicide in psychiatric outpatients: A 20-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, (2000): 371-377. doi:10.1037/0022-006x.68.3.371. [24] Bryan, C. J., & Rudd, D. Advances in the assessment of suicide psychology, 62, (2006): 185-200. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20222

BIOGRAPHY Bolboaşă Ionuţ Eduard was born in Constanta on March 13, 1977, he graduated from the Faculty of Letters and Theology on the specialization TheologyHistory at Ovidius University, Constanta, then the Faculty of Psychosociology, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, at Andrei Saguna University in Constanta folowed by Doctoral School within the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest. Between 2015 and 2018 he was an assistant doctoral student at the Faculty of Psychosociology at Andrei Saguna University in Constanta.

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“Love Thy Neighbor” - A Missiological Mandate Ilie Soritau, PhD

Theology department Emanuel University of Oradea Oradea, Romania

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 05 May 2021 Received in revised form 01 June Accepted 05 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.18

Keywords: Christian ethics; race; ethnic relations; ethnicity; integration; missions; gypsy;

Persecution and discrimination is an everyday activity. Among the persecuted and the discriminated are the blacks and also the Roma, known in other places by the name gypsies. In the United States and other parts of the world, the whites are persecuting and discriminating against blacks but, in Europe, whites are persecuting and discriminating against the Roma people. Unfortunately, to this day, the Roma people are considered still to be of a lower class or, even worse, a more inferior human being. It is a shame to live in a society that considers itself to be one of peace and unity and to accept these things and allowing them to take place. In this article, special attention will be given to the persecutions and discriminations that the Roma people were facing. Then a descriptive analysis of their contributions and influences on many nations at different times and dates and, in the end, an attempt to best present solutions for such things to cease. In particular, how the churches and humanity will apply it to their ministries and life for the persecution and discrimination of these people to stop and for reconciliation to take place. It is time to move from theory to practice. © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Ilie Soritau. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Soritau, Ilie. ”Love Thy Neighbor: A Missiological Mandate.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 216-222. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.18

I. INTRODUCTION

While the enslavement of gypsies and blacks has been abolished, equally inhumane forms of oppression continue to be perpetuated into the present day. [1, 2] It is not right morally and legally that in the 21st century, such treatment or, better said, mistreatment of each other takes place. This approach, attitude, and actions should

no longer be accepted in today’s society. It is wrong, and more than just putting these oppressors to shame, there should be a legal basis for punishment and justice. This article aims to introduce to the reader the community of the Roma people along with the persecutions and discriminations that they were and are facing still. Secondly, there will be a brief look at their contributions and influences on many nations at different

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time. [9, 156] Charles Leland believed that the Romany migrated to Eastern Europe first and then on to Western Europe, Germany, and France. [5, 4] Today, the Roma is spread everywhere, but most can be found in Eastern Europe in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. After their migration, the Romany were used as slaves for the majority of their existence. A Romanian writer, Petraceicu Hasdeu, records the trade of the Romany as slaves among the aristocracy of Romania. [7, 191] Roma was seen as “debased creatures, inferior even to the animals.” [11] The Roma women, for example, were considered the temptresses while the Roma males were considered a sexual threat to Romanian womanhood. The majority of Roma males were castrated. Speaking Throughout history, in Romania alone, the Roma were treated with cruelty. They were beaten and persecuted and even killed in some situations. [11] Second, only to the Jews, the Romany are Europe’s oldest minority. [1, 2] Out of an estimated 10 to 12 million Roma living in Europe, approximately 6 million are citizens or residents of many European Community countries. [11] In many European countries, which now have a minimal Jewish presence, Roma has taken over the role of the principal scapegoat. Their treatment has become a litmus test for a humane society. Today they suffer serious and increasing persecution. Since the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, their plight has significantly worsened in that region. Today’s Roma faces new forms of discrimination and legal harassment in several European countries. The widespread suffering of Roma is now one of Europe’s most pressing, however most neglected, human rights issues. Grassroots prejudice, deriving from centuries of official outlawing, runs deep and often results in public hostility and discrimination, house burnings, and

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times and dates and thirdly, to best present solutions for such things to cease, and in particular, ways in which the churches and humans will apply it to their ministries and life for the persecution and discrimination of these people to stop and for reconciliation to take place. The Roma people or Gypsies, the other name they are known as, are of northern Indian origin, having moved out of that area probably between A.D. 800 and A.D. 950, immigrating westwards into Europe and arriving there sometime after A.D. 1100. [9, 7] Quoting an article found on http:// www.scottishgypsies.co.uk/early.html, student Razvan Savu says that “Gypsies are a community made up of people very close to each other, with a common past, but who are now spread in multiple parts of the world. Their origin has given rise to much controversy over the centuries, but in modern times there have been countless studies of their language that have led to the conclusion that they originated in northern India, and from there began to spread throughout Europe and the Middle East. It is not known exactly who was the first to leave India and what was the reason for this.” [13] He continues his argument when he develops this idea by stating that “It seems that they arrived in the Middle East around 1000 AD, some went to North Africa and another part to Europe. The Romany were an intelligent people, accustomed to living using their “minds”, and who understood that it was quite easy to impress the uneducated locals by assigning titles of the lord, duke, count, and prince of Egypt asking for and receiving help from those in leadership positions. The alleged reason for their pilgrimage was the invasion of the Muslims and their expulsion from their own country.” [13] According to Sampson, linguistic evidence suggests that the ancestors of all Gypsy populations left India at the same

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murder. They are a prime target of ultranationalist violence and are sometimes victims of police brutality. As long as the writer of this research paper can remember, the Romany in Romania was virtually always on the bottom rung of society. The Romany people are discriminated against when they seek employment, housing, access to educational facilities, and the use of other public services. Besides the discrimination that was done throughout history, the Roma people have been faced with much poverty. According to a report done by FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights), which includes a survey done on the Roma people in countries like France, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, some 80% of the Romany live below their country’s poverty level. When the survey was done, about 8,200 individuals were living in their homes under this condition. [12] Far worst, according to the same findings, every third Roma lives in housing without tap water and went to bed hungry at least once in the previous month, and 50% of them between the ages six to twenty-four do not attend school. Unfortunately, “the fundamental rights situation of Roma people remains profoundly troubling,” states the report. [12] Being a people of travels and interacting with different people and cultures have been the main reason for their development. This also includes the interaction with the Word of God and the way they responded to the Gospel. There were different times when they responded to hearing the Word of God. Churches were started in Spain or even France and even reached other parts of the world, such as North America, India, and Latin America. As far as the conversion to Christianity goes in Eastern Europe, two countries need to be mentioned, Bulgaria and Romania. In 1991, there were about 2.5 million Roma people in Romania, but

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unfortunately, only a tiny percentage made up the number of converts in those days. The challenge is to reach the Roma, who are in constant motion due to persecution in many countries. They are outstanding evangelists because they want to tell their brothers about what they have come to know wherever they go. [8, 72] In Bulgaria, for example, in 2004, there were about 80,000 believers and 100 Romany pastors. [10, 205-246] The problem of racist violence, racial discrimination, and disadvantage experienced by minority ethnic groups across Europe has been subject to considerable attention in recent years by policymakers and academics. But the recent experience of historically persecuted groups such as the Roma has been relatively neglected. Missiology seems to be suffering today from an acute identity crisis. [4, 445] This crisis is aggravated by at least two significant factors: the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of missiology and the rapid pace of change of the world around us. [4, 445] Each of them has important implications for the missionary work of the church. In Hasselgrave’s opinion, the missiologists and other Christian thinkers are concerned that missiology, as a discipline, should be saved from drifting and drowning in a sea of social scientific data and anchored in its theological foundations again and the best way to do this is to understand how the Christian gospel can be communicated to other cultures understanding worldviews, cognitive processes, linguistic forms and behavioral patterns.[3, 203] The question is, how can the church’s reflection on its missionary task be rooted correctly again? The answer lies in developing a hermeneutically sound theology of mission, but which is nevertheless oriented towards the challenges faced by the contemporary church. And one of the challenges faced by

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protect them and help them integrate, to ensure the safety and observance of their human rights, but also to punish those who violate them. The list of proposals goes on and on. [11] Analyzing the list, someone would say that it is precisely the perfect solution to the problem. It is essential to mention that the solutions that were proposed by the European community sound good considering the integration of the gypsies among the whites, but they do not deal with forgiveness, history, stereotypes, which are the foundations of race and ethnic relations. However, the author of this research paper considers the discrimination and persecution of the gypsies to be on a deeper level, and that is the problem of the heart. It is suggested that everybody, when dealing with such issues, should search the heart and where it stands in relation to God and neighbors and realize that it is considered to be the “sin” problem, and because of that, it should be treated accordingly. Therefore, the answer is to have a biblical basis for racial reconciliation. According to Dr. Peart, the solution to the reconciliation of any groups— whites and blacks, gypsies and whites is “in-Himtegration.” The whites and the gypsies meet at the cross, their point of salvation. The foundation of unity is Jesus Christ. We will be together for eternity. “In Christ” becomes the basis of integration. Biblical reconciliation is the integrative choice to mix, accept, and magnify differences, but even more importantly, to magnify unity in Christ. In Paul’s Apostle’s letter to the church of Ephesians chapter two, the Jews and Greeks were to live in peace and unity. The solution to their reconciliation was Christ. The expression “in Him” appears twenty times, emphasizing the importance of realizing who produces the reconciliation. Paul stresses that the church should

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the modern church when it comes to the mission is how best to approach the Roma people group and how to help and minister to their souls and not only. This means missions at their best, both spiritually and materially. It is not enough to neglect either of these two aspects. Like the Church, different groups of people have had many recommendations for policy intervention to combat the problems faced by the Romany community and serve as the basis for discussion by the institutions of the European Union. In a recent meeting of the European Parliament’s s Consultative Commission on Racism and Xenophobia, it was suggested that several educational policy measures should be proposed to deal with prejudice and hostility toward the gypsies. Education authorities in all countries should ensure that attention to anti-gypsy prejudice and hostility is incorporated into a broader framework of multicultural and anti-racist education and implemented by educational institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities. More specific: multi-cultural teaching should incorporate an understanding of gypsy culture and history; anti-racist education should address anti-gypsy prejudice and hostility; the recommendations for teaching curricula and teacher training should be established in consultation with specialists and representatives of gypsy communities. It was suggested that the European Union should ensure that countries seeking membership are required to establish the above policy measures as a condition of their entry to their Union. It was also recommended that immediate action should be taken to respond to anti-gypsy violence and harassment. Public housing authorities in all European countries should ensure that gypsies are not discriminated against in housing allocation and in terms of the quality of housing offered. More and more nations from Europe are making special efforts to

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function right and, therefore, they should live in unity. Jesus Christ is both peace and peacemaker. When He died on the cross, He brought about the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile. There he made both into one. Paul thinks of two parts being united as one whole. Then he personalizes it and speaks of two men being recreated as one new man. Christ has removed the hostility that existed between these deeply divided groups. What was created by hatred has been broken down forever? The last part of this research will deal with some practical ways that the Church should do to move toward a muchneeded reconciliation, but more than that recommended and taught in the Word of God, and that is to love thy neighbor. Some principles will need to be implemented when approaching the reconciliation between whites and the Roma community. First of all, it is evident that to resolve the “present” situations, it is necessary to go back to the roots of the problems. It is essential to look at the ways the whites treated the Roma people in Europe. It is important to focus on the cruelty with which they were treated and why not publicly apologize for what the ancestors have done and, by doing that to acknowledge that they were wrong in their actions. It has to start with forgiveness. Secondly, let individuals be individuals, and that is to purpose not to, under any circumstances, stereotype anyone based on what someone else is. Another vital step in reconciling the whites and the Roma people relations is to publicly show love towards their community. On the educational level, every person, starting with children, read about the horrible things their ancestors have done to the Roma people and understand the ignorance regarding this entire problem. The best example is to do the best to be an example of how to treat other minorities. The sooner, the better; from an early age,

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it has to be explained that people are all created equal and in the image of God. In His sight, there is no majority and no minority. We are all one. Another aspect that needs attention is promoting and living as an example of a reconciled life—practicing intentionality when dealing with such issues and showing persistence in what is believed to be right and what should be done. Their culture and traits are also important. Further understanding of their culture can happen by planning to represent different social groups best in literature and materials, bring together friends of all backgrounds, and make literature on the gypsies available to people. The church1 must make sure that the issues will be addressed and the Word of God regarding such problems will be proclaimed with boldness. The church will be taught the Word, which deals explicitly with grace and unity. The church must openly apologize for the way believers dealt with race throughout the ages. To the secular world, the two attributes that seem to be lacking in dealing with minorities are honesty and civility. When it comes to church moving one step further to say that what is lacking is the love of God and the love of neighbor regardless of color, race, age, and sex, it will be right and necessary. The two greatest commandments that Jesus himself taught and made reference remind us often to love God and love our neighbor. The Church should never forget that, like many other ethnic groups, Romany people have a soul, and the Roma people are responding to the Gospel, and more and more are touched by the Word of God. Jesus has come to save that which is lost, according to Luke 19:10. This proves that human stereotypes and preconceptions do not apply when the work of proclaiming the 1 By term ‘church’, it means the local as well as universal church, the leaders as well as every person belonging to that local church entity.

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Bibliography [1] Breasley, Margaret. “The Gypsies of of Europe: A Persecuted People.” Journal of the Jewish Policy Research, No. 3 (December 1996): 2. [2] Hancock, Ian. The Pariah Syndrome. Karoma Publishers, Inc. Ann Arbor, MI 1987 [3] Hasselgrave, David. Contextualization. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. [4] Kostenberger, Andreas. “The Challenge Of a systematized Biblical theology of Mission.” Journal of Missiology, Vol. XX111, No. 4 (October 1945):445. [5] Leland, G. Charles. Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling. New York: University Books, 1962. [6] Mumper, Sharon E. Mumper. “Missions: Gypsy Church Thrives in Europe, Worldwide.” Christianity Today, (December 16, 1991) [7] Petraceicu, Hasdeu, B. Archiva Istorica a Romaniei (transl. Historical Archive of

Romania), Vol. 3, 1867. [8] Mumper, Sharon E. “Missions: Gypsy Church Thrives in Europe, Worldwide.” Christianity Today, (December 16, 1991): 72. [9] Sampson, John. “On the Origin and Early Migration of Gypsies,” Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, vol. 2 [10] Slavkova, Magdalena. “Evangelical Gypsies in Bulgaria: Way of Life and Performance of Identity.” Liverpool University Press, Romani Studies 17, no. 2 (2007): 205–246. [11] ec.europa.eu. accessed on March 16, 2021 [12] www.fra.europa.eu. accesed on May 3, 2021 [13] Razvan Savu, paper presented to Emanuel University of Oradea, for Missions and Evangelism Course.

Biography Dr. Ilie Soritau was born in Arad County, Romania, in September 1968. He has a M.Div. in theology with biblical languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological. Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina (1999), and a Ph.D. in theology from BabesBolyai University in Cluj, Romania (2012). He was an adjunct professor of homiletics for six years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas (2006-2012). Also, he has taught from 1999 to the present day at Emanuel University of Oradea. He currently serves as Vice President and Chief Librarian of Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania. He has coauthored multiple articles with Dr. Ioan Pop on “Transdisciplinary Perspective Through the Synergistic Communication on Faith in the Seven Letters of Revelation” as well as “The Mankind between Bethel and Ai, a Synergistic Contextual Communication Model on Faith.” He has co-authored a book with Dr. Ciprian Simuț: “Reformarea mântuirii, Volumul 1, Repere soteriologice în

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Word and the miraculous way in which God chooses to work each time regardless of the color of the skin, the language spoken, or the level of anyone’s education and social status. The Gospel of John 3:16, one of the most known and referenced verses in the entire Bible, says that God loved the world, including even the Romany people. Those considered the outcasts of Europe, and not only Europe, God loved so much that He gave His Only Son so that nobody will perish but have eternal life. No one can love God without loving their neighbor, and nobody can love their neighbor without loving God. This is put in a more practical way because no human can love God without loving their fellow Romany, and no one can love the fellow Romany without loving God. God loves the Romany people. May He give the Church and the world the desire and strength to become a true lover of God and the Roma neighbor!

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teologia reformatorilor din Anglia și Europa continental în secolele XVI și XVII” (Oradea, Romania: Editura Universității Emanuel din Oradea). Dr. Soritau is a member of The Evangelical Theological Society and the Homiletical Society. He serves on the Council of the Romanian Baptist Union and a co-founder of the Family Advisory Council at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Ft. Worth, Texas.

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Spiritual Therapies and Autolytic Behavior Addiction Intervention Program Focused on the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 05 May 2021 Received in revised form 14 May Accepted 20 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.19

Can the Minnesota Model and the 12-step program be an effective intervention model based on the religious and spiritual approach to reduce substance and alcohol consumption but also suicidal ideation? Can these programs also lead to increased quality of life and unconditional selfacceptance by study participants? In this study, we aimed to highlight the role of the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program used in reducing stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, increasing quality of life, and unconditional acceptance of oneself by participants in Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Constanta County. Another goal we set out was to compare the results obtained by the participants at the end of these programs, but also by comparing their results with the results obtained by the participants who make up a control group. Through this study, we aim to identify the most important predictors and include them in effective models for increasing the quality of life of alcohol addicts, as well as highlighting a relationship between alcohol dependence and suicidal ideation, before and after these two programs.

Keywords: alcohol; spiritual therapy; suicidal ideation; stress; quality of life; religious coping;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Ionut Eduard Bolboasa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Bolboasa, Ionut Eduard. ”Spiritual Therapies and Autolytic Behavior Addiction Intervention Program Focused on the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 223-236. DOI: 10.51917/ dialogo.2021.7.2.19

I. Introduction

An ancient proverb often taken up in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings is this: “A man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.” These addictions, such as alcohol and psychoactive substance use, have been

predisposing factors in recent decades in the adoption of self-harming behaviors with major implications for social life, variably affecting economic, medical or legal components. The existence of the link between alcohol and suicide has been known since Kraepelin’s studies, which emerged after 1960, becoming a certainty

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Ionut Eduard Bolboasa

Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences Bucharest University Romania

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in the last two decades due to the large number of studies published worldwide [1] [2]. Researchers and practitioners exploring addiction issues point to the importance of religion as a factor that protects against alcohol abuse and supports the quality of life of addicts [3]. Empirical studies have confirmed the existence of negative associations between religiosity and alcohol abuse [4] [5]. However, these studies are subject to criticism due to global measures of religiosity such as religious affiliation or religious practices as well as ignoring deeper or specific aspects of religiosity [6] [7]. II. Alcohol And Suicide Behavior

It has been observed in clinical trials that comorbid psychiatric disorders are frequently present in patients with alcohol consumption disorders. Alcohol and drug abuse rank second, after depression and other mood disorders as the most common risk factor for suicidal behavior [8] [9]. Thus, there is a need for analyzes that should best inform prevention and intervention efforts regarding the association between Acute Use of Alcohol (AUA) and suicidal behavior. There is a lack of data on alcohol consumption shortly before suicidal behavior, beyond estimates of the number of drinks consumed over a period of time (for example, within three hours before death). Lack of data is relevant to understanding the evolution or escalation of suicide risk during alcohol consumption. Research is needed to see if alcohol consumption (and level of use) and the idea of suicide (and the extent of ideas) are generally covert. Such an analysis of suicidal thoughts and suicidal behavior would improve theories as well as prevention efforts aimed at suicidal reality constructed on the basis of alcohol consumption.

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It is also necessary to determine the mechanisms by which AUA can increase suicidal thoughts and behavior. These mechanisms may include but are not limited to, psychological distress related to alcohol, depressive mood and anxiety, aggression, impulsivity, and cognitive constriction [10]. Due to the methodological difficulties involved in investigating complete suicide, most research has focused on suicidal ideation or suicide attempts [11]. Several factors increase the likelihood of a person committing suicide, especially when they abuse substances such as alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and some drugs can lead to the cancellation of inhibition, but also to increased impulsivity, leading to neuropsychic changes with echoes in depressive states causing a disruption of relationships and leading to alienation and loss of social connection. An extremely important element is the excessive use of drugs or alcohol that could lead to death, either accidentally or intentionally by suicide. Numerous studies and reports, such as the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), indicate alcohol as a factor in about a third of reported suicides, and 62% of these suicides had a high blood alcohol content at the time of death. The effects of alcohol or drug use on the human psyche and behavior are known. Recent decades have shown a rapid expansion of research on substance use and addictive behaviors, by including several different scientific disciplines in this area. Thus, substance use disorders and addictive behaviors are more likely to be accompanied by other mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, or other preexisting problems. It has been found that both substance use and impulse control disorders employ the same brain mechanisms, with similar approaches to treatment. Substance use and gambling are complex conditions that affect reward, defense,

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III. Spirituality, Religiosity and

Addictions

Addiction has been defined as substance use or engaging in the behavior, in which satisfaction-based effects provide a sufficiently compelling incentive to repeat the activity, despite the negative consequences. Consequently, addiction has been presented alternately as a disease, syndrome, or behavior, and in religious doctrine as a sin. There is ample evidence of the neurobiological characteristics of addictive behaviors. These involve responses from the brain’s reward center using a neurotransmitter called dopamine. It is important to know that such changes in the brain are reversible after stopping the use of the substance or stopping the addictive behavior. The strong effects of these substances have often been incorporated into religious rituals by various civilizations, such as Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman. Opinions of researchers in the spiritualreligious sphere speak about the spiritual causes of addictions, being known that spiritual therapies are currently the most widespread types of interventions with notable results worldwide. One such example is the Community of Alcoholics

Anonymous, present worldwide, which through the program called “The 12 Steps of AA” has managed to counteract, through its programs that use religious and spiritual coping, the undesirable effects of alcohol consumption in the last 80 years. The key to the recovery process is based on a spiritual experience as a result of practicing the daily discipline of the 12 Steps, a process that evokes a multidimensional change, including cognition, affectivity and behavior, sufficient for recovery from this disease. Although it is a relatively new spiritual discipline, the 12 Steps program has much older foundations related to the relationship with divinity, by promoting devotion, understanding, and meditation. Recent research offers improvements in the 12 Steps program, highlighting the path to recovery by promoting forgiveness, a key factor in recovery. Also, psychological research on forgiveness has become more evident in the last two decades, as both the physical and psychological health benefits of forgiveness have been examined [12]. For example, research has shown that those who forgive can have positive health outcomes, such as better sleep quality, reduced adverse effects, and decreased anxiety [13]. There has been much debate among researchers about the definition of forgiveness. One view is related to the fact that forgiveness is the transformation of negative affect into positive affect or only into neutral affect [14]. There are also several spiritual-religious approaches to alcoholism. For example, Clinebell [15] defined alcoholism as a selfish, wrong, and futile effort to satisfy deep spiritual needs. Kurtz [16] viewed alcoholism as a misinterpretation of spiritual needs through euphoria. Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, supported the same idea, saying that an alcoholic is a guy trying to get his religion

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motivation and the memory system. They are characterized by impaired control over use; social depreciation, involving disruption of activities, daily relationships and lust. Continued use is usually detrimental to relationships, as well as to obligations at work or school. Most addicts agree that the notion of addiction is extremely complex, and its complexity stems in part from the impact it has on the individual from a bio-psychosocial point of view, or its effects on society influencing the law, economics or politics.

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out of a bottle when what he really wants is unity with himself, unity with God. IV. Religiosity And Suicidal Behavior

From their birth, the world’s religions have established the idea that man has no right to kill, including the idea of suppressing his own life, because it will violate the divine command to kill. Research on religiosityspirituality and depression is also consistent with research on the relationship between religiosity and suicide. Depression is a wellestablished risk factor for suicide. Thus, depression along with anger, need for control, and impulsivity is psychological states often associated with suicide attempts and completed suicide [17]. More recent studies present spirituality as a protective factor against suicidal tendencies in adolescents and adults in many world religions. Other studies in the West and in the United States on the role of religiosity and spirituality concerning various areas of mental health reveal that religiosity can prevent and reduce certain suicidal behaviors [18]. Another risk factor for adopting suicidal behavior is substance abuse along with stressors. A study on suicide in Finland, a country recognized as having some of the highest suicide rates in the world, found that recent life events were relevant in 80% of suicides [19]. Given that religiousspiritual involvement causes a decrease in depression, anger and hostility, as well as substance abuse, but also an increase in social involvement or coping with stress, these realities converge to a decrease in autolytic behavior. Koenig identified 141 studies that examined the relationship between spirituality-religiosity and completed suicide, suicide attempt, or attitudes toward suicide. Only 4 of the 141 studies found an increase in ideation, attempts or suicide completed

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among people with more spiritual-religious involvement, and 106 of the studies, representing 75% of their total, established inverse relationships [20]. Thus, the results of research for both depression and suicide reinforce the idea that the involvement of religiosity and spirituality can serve as an important resource for some people at risk of depression and for its most feared consequence, suicide. Most research examining the relationship between suicide and religion found that those with strong religious beliefs and those involved in a supportive religious community have more negative attitudes toward suicide and are less likely to think or commit suicide [21]. These findings have been replicated more recently by age groups and health status. For example, Greening and Stoppelbein [22] asked 1,098 adolescents to self-assess the likelihood of dying by suicide and found that a strong commitment to basic religious beliefs was the strongest predictor of negative attitudes toward suicide, after controlling other predictors. In another study of a sample of 835 elderly African-American adults, low religiosity and depressive symptoms were the only two variables among many that uniquely predicted the idea of passive suicide and only religiosity and low life satisfaction predicted. the idea of active suicide [23]. In contrast, patients with high scores on spiritual evolution had a lower desire to hasten death, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts [24]. Thus, most research has consistently reported low suicidal beliefs among those who report greater religiosity. V. The Minnesota Model

The Minnesota addiction treatment model, commonly referred to as the “abstinence model,” is a development of the original 12-Step Program developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and was founded

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against other treatment models. The results of the study were conclusive: those who completed treatment in the Minnesota Model were more successful than those who have not received any treatment or who have not finished it. This was assessed by a simple survey, which asked participants about any recurrences they suffered after their treatment. of those who used the Minnesota Model, 53% reported no recurrence or minor recurrence after one year. Those who did not receive any treatment or did not finish the treatment reported only an abstinence rate between 15 and 28% The components of the Minnesota Model vary depending on the treatment used for each individual. That being said, there is a basic treatment structure that is usually followed for each person. Creating a structured but adaptable recovery method like this makes it easier for counselors and therapists to maintain a consistent and effective treatment approach. The individual components of the Minnesota Model and their benefits include the following several aspects that will be presented below. Detoxification. The first step in almost any method of treatment is detoxification, which usually requires careful care of medications to help eliminate the dangers and discomfort of severe withdrawal symptoms. Each person in treatment will receive their own individualized taper to ensure a safe recovery. Psychological evaluation. Behind most addictions are a variety of psychological concerns that need to be addressed. The Minnesota Model focuses heavily on discovering these problems, bringing them to light and finding appropriate ways to manage the severity of symptoms in a constructive way. Group meetings. As mentioned earlier, group therapy is the main goal of the Minnesota Model. Creating a support group

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by two young people in the 1950’s, one to become a psychologist and the other to follow to become a psychiatrist, none of them had previous experience in treating drug addicts or alcoholics. The model first spread to a small non-profit organization called the Hazelden Foundation and then across the country. The key element of this unique approach in the treatment of addiction was the mixing of professional staff, including doctors and psychiatrists in the treatment of addiction, and nonprofessional (recovered) around the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). There was an individualized treatment plan, with the active involvement of the family in a 28-day outpatient treatment and participation in Alcoholics Anonymous both during and after treatment. The education of patients and families about addiction disease has made this program a busy program from morning to evening, seven days a week. In this way, it was thought that the treatment could be more comprehensive and effective than past treatment methods, which focused only on detoxification. Since its inception, the Minnesota Model has been adapted and expanded several times, making new treatment methods available. However, the basic emphasis on changing a person through psychological support and helping them recover from their addiction in a professional setting is still there. In many ways, it formed the basis of many modern treatment methodologies. The effectiveness of the Minnesota Model as a method of addiction treatment has been tested several times, with many positive results. For example, one study tested 245 teens who were addicted to drugs. of this group, 179 received treatment, at least in part, using the Minnesota Model. The others did not receive any treatment. The idea was to test whether the Minnesota Model was more effective than any treatment, compared to testing its effectiveness

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is a powerful way to manage addiction. We may maintain a connection with a support group outside the rehabilitation center and contact them when things become too difficult to manage. Educational lectures. Education is a major part of the Minnesota Model. It includes teaching those recovering about the dangers of drug and alcohol use, ways to avoid relapse, appetite management techniques and even life-skills therapy, which helps a person reintegrate into society after treatment. Recommendation of adequate services. Those currently in treatment, or not during their recovery, may need additional care, including specialized medical, psychiatric and social services. These services are designed to get a person back on their feet and in excellent health. VI. Objectives

Starting from the data specified above, we aimed in this study to highlight the role of the Minnesota Model and the 12- Step Program used in reducing of addiction behavior, stress, suicidal ideation, increasing quality of life, and unconditional acceptance of oneself by participants in the groups of Alcoholics Anonymous from Constanta County, by comparing the results obtained by the participants at the end of these programs, but also by comparing their results with the results obtained by the participants that make up a control group. We also aim to identify the most important predictors and include them in effective models for increasing the quality of life of alcohol addicts, as well as highlighting a relationship between alcohol dependence and suicidal ideation, prior to the two programs.

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VII. Hypotheses

Based on the research objectives, the null hypothesis of the study can be postulated: “There is no statistically significant effect of the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program on quality-of-life factors.” Hypothesis 1: Participants’ quality of life will improve statistically significantly following the Minnesota Model and the 12Step Program. Hypothesis 2: Study group participants will gain better unconditional acceptance of themselves through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program Hypothesis 3: Going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in alcohol consumption, stress, and negative suicidal ideation. Hypothesis 4: There is a statistically significant relationship between alcohol addiction and negative suicidal ideation, moderated by negative religious coping and self-acceptance. VIII. Research Variables

The research plan involves collecting data for the following variables to be analyzed: quality of life is a continuous variable that will function in the research design as a dependent variable or moderating variable; the group of participants distinguishes between participants in the control group and those who followed the Minnesota Model and the Program in 12 steps, being a nominal independent variable; alcohol consumption is a nominal categorical variable with three categories (occasional, moderate and chronic) and will work in research design as a dependent variable, alcohol dependence is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable, stress is a continuous variable that will function in research design

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IX. Methods And Instruments

The method used for this study was the survey based on a questionnaire, the participants being given to complete the psychometric tools at the beginning of the intervention program, these being applied directly and personally, thus avoiding nonresponses. The research participants, both those in the study group and those in the control group, were informed about the rules for completing the psychological tools used, but also about the processing of personal data, then proceed to the application of questionnaires and their distribution. They were also informed about what the intervention program entails, thus respecting the ethical considerations, namely: the principles of the Deontological Code, elaborated by the Methodology Commission of the Romanian College of Psychologists, were observed. The following instruments were used in this data collection study: The AUDIT questionnaire (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, World Health

Organization, 1989) is a questionnaire designed to measure alcoholism in the general population, consisting of 10 items. The unconditional self-acceptance questionnaire (USAQ, Chamberlain & Haaga, 2001) contains 20 items that measure unconditional self-acceptance. The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS; Flanagan, 1970) consists of 16 items, which make up 3 subscales. The subscales that determine different dimensions of quality of life are: material well-being and relationships with others (7 items), health and ability to function (4 items), personal, social and community commitment (5 items). The scales for depression, anxiety and stress (DASS 21-R; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) include a set of three selfassessment scales with 21 items that assess the emotional states in the area of depression, anxiety and stress. The religious coping scale (The Brief R-Cope; Pargament, Feuille, & Burdzy, 2011) is composed of 14 items and measures religious coping in the face of major life stressors. Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation (PANSI; Osman et al., 1998) is an inventory of two subscales. The PANSI-NSI subscale (i.e., Negative Ideation) consists of 8 items, and the PANSI-PI subscale (i.e., Positive Ideation) consists of 6 items, in total the inventory comprising 14 items. X. Participants

The research was based on a number of 114 participants, 33 women (28.90%) and 81 men (71.10%), aged between 21 and 65 years (M = 41.11; SD = 8.46), distributed in two groups, inhabitants of Constanta and Tulcea counties, recruited voluntarily. Depending on the level of alcohol consumption, the research group contains

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as a dependent variable; Depression is a continuous variable that will function in research design as a dependent variable; anxiety - is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable; suicidal ideation is represented by two continuous variables, the positive and negative suicidal ideation and which will function in the research design as dependent variables; religious coping is represented by two continuous variables, positive and negative religious coping and which will function in the research design as dependent variables or moderating variables; self-acceptance - is a continuous variable that will work in research design as a dependent variable or moderating variable.

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65 people with chronic consumption (57.00%), 48 people with moderate consumption (42.10%), and one with occasional consumption, the study group containing 57 participants ( 50.00%), while the control group also included 57 participants (50.00%). The research participants, both those in the study group and those in the control group were initially evaluated and identified as alcohol addicts due to the help received from five family medicine practices in Constanta County but also the inclusion of people from Alcoholics Anonymous.

[5]

[6]

[7]

XI. Procedure

The theoretical support of this study was the foundation of the practical approach. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, after theoretically researching the proposed aspects in the analysis of concepts and theories about the studied aspects, we moved to the actual analysis of the research, to the applied part, but this was possible due to the involvement of group participants. study in the intervention program based on the Minnesota Model and the 12-step program. The stages we went through in this study were: [1] the study of materials from the literature and familiarization with the field of addictions; [2] establishing the methods and tools for collecting the data necessary to achieve the objectives set and to verify the hypotheses; [3] identification of the two groups of participants, both those in the study group and those in the control group, all from the addictive population, for the application of the previously established tools; [4] the involvement of the participants

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[8]

[9]

from the study group in the intervention program for Alcoholics Anonymous in order to verify the hypotheses; collecting initial data from the study group and compiling an initial data collection based on them, as well as statistical processing to find out the starting indicators and the form of data distribution; review by the study group participants of the intervention program in order to reduce stress, depression, anxiety and increase the quality of life; the subsequent application of the intervention program of the instruments used in the research, the collection of data and their entry in the database already created, both for the participants in the study group and for the participants in the control group; performing a comparative analysis of the data obtained at the end of the intervention program with the data obtained at the beginning of this program, data collected from the participants in the study group, but also comparing these data with those collected from the control group; drawing conclusions and setting boundaries and new directions for other future research.

X. Analysis And Interpretation Of Data

We will approach, in the first stage, the screening and purification of data, the verification of assumptions, using in this sense univariate descriptive analyzes, and depending on the results we will proceed to choose the appropriate techniques necessary to verify the hypotheses. A. Hypothesis 1.

The null hypothesis that will be tested in this case is: “Participants’ quality of life will

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B. Hypothesis 2.

The null hypothesis to be rejected can be formulated as follows: “Participants in the research group will not gain better unconditional acceptance of themselves following the Minnesota Model and the 12Step Program.” The design is also one with repeated measurements in which the dependent variable does not meet the assumption of univariate normality, therefore we will also use the non- parametric Wilcoxon statistical test. And in this case we can see that the average of the ranks after going through the model (MRpost = 52.16) is statistically significantly higher (Z = 6.38, p <.01, r2 = 0.46) compared to the average of the ranks before going through the model (MRpre = 24.13) , so the null hypothesis can be rejected, arguing the alternative hypothesis “Study group participants will gain a better unconditional acceptance of themselves after completing the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program”, also talking about a

medium effect (r = .46). C. Hypothesis 3.

As a null hypothesis, it is postulated that: “Going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program does not result in a statistically significant reduction in alcohol consumption, stress, and negative suicidal ideation.” Normally, we are talking about a design of a multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measurements, but the dependent variables do not meet the assumptions necessary to approach at parametric level, therefore rejecting the null hypothesis would determine the possibility of supporting a number of 3 alternative hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in alcohol consumption Hypothesis 2: Going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in stress Hypothesis 3: Going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in negative suicidal ideation. Such a design will again be the subject of a non- parametric analysis by means of the Wilcoxon test, finding the rejection of the null hypothesis and the support of all three alternative hypotheses. Indeed, we can say that completing the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in alcohol consumption (Z = 6.16; p <.01, r2 = 0.44), alcohol addiction after the program (MRpost = 20.55) being statistically significantly lower compared to the initial alcohol addiction (MRpre = 51.39), the effect being an average one (r = .44). Also, stress is statistically significantly

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not improve statistically significantly after completing the Minnesota Model and the 12Step Program.” Dependent variable Quality of life could not be assimilated to a normal variable. In this case, we will use the Wilcoxon rank comparison test, finding the rejection of the null hypothesis and the support of the alternative hypothesis: “Participants’ quality of life will improve statistically significantly after completing the Minnesota Model and the 12- Step Program” (Z = 7.24, p < .01, r2 = 0.52). Indeed, the average of the ranks after completing the model (MRpost = 52.86) is statistically significantly higher compared to the average of the initial ranks (MRpre = 22.10), the effect being an important one (r = .52).

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lower after completing the program (MRpost = 28.18) compared to the initial situation (MRpre = 54.91), so completing the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in stress (Z = 4.40 , p <.01, r2 = 0.32), the effect being also a medium one. Finally, going through the Minnesota Model and the 12-Step Program results in a statistically significant reduction in negative suicidal ideation (Z = 5.49, p <.01, r2 = 0.40), the negative suicidal ideation measured at the end (MRpost = 24.04) being much more low compared to the initial one (MRpre = 50.46), having to do with a medium effect. D. Hypothesis 4.

The fourth null hypothesis will be: “There is no statistically significant relationship between alcohol addiction and negative suicidal ideation, moderated by negative religious coping and self-acceptance”, it will be decomposed into the two null hypotheses, corresponding to the main effects and effects interaction: “There is no statistically significant relationship between alcohol addiction and negative suicidal ideation”, respectively “The relationship between alcohol addiction and negative suicidal ideation is not moderated by negative religious coping and selfacceptance.” Neither alcohol addiction nor negative suicidal ideation satisfies the assumption of univariate normality, and their empirical amplitude does not allow an approach through an ordinal logistic regression model. We will ultimately use linear regression, interpreted subject to failure to meet the assumption and therefore unstable parameters, estimating hierarchically the following models, separately for the initial and final measurements: As a weighting method to avoid multicolinearity determined by products we

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will use the method of centering the means of predictors, in the case of moderators, the assumption of residue independence being estimated based on the Durbin- Watson test, multicollinearity being assessed according to tolerance indicator. The value of the Durbin-Watson test is 1.12, being an acceptable one, therefore the positive residual correlations, even if they exist, are much too weak to generate a statistically significant effect on the models in the initial situation. Analyzing the third hierarchical model, corresponding to the effects exerted by alcohol addiction, negative religious coping and acceptance of one’s own person, we find the rejection of the first null hypothesis. The model with three predictors explains about 12.2% of the variant of suicidal behavior (R2 = .12), this model having a prediction capacity significantly higher than zero in the population (F (3.92) = 5.87, p <.01) and does not show critical values of inflation tolerance, this indicator having the value .96, so we are not in situations of multicollinearity, the equations of the basic model becoming: Negative suicidal ideation = 16.25 + 0.22 x Addiction 0.02 x Negative religious coping + 0.16 x Acceptance Negative: suicidal ideation = 0.33 x Addiction 0.01 x Negative religious coping+ 0.18 x Acceptance

Only two of the three predictors are really important, in the first place being the alcohol addiction (P = .33, t = 3.41, p <.01), the increase by one point of the score at the initial alcohol addiction determining the increase with .22 points on the negative suicidal ideation score, initially measured. This predictor is followed by self-acceptance (P = 0.18; t = 1.93; p = .05), while negative religious coping does not exert a statistically significant effect (t = 0.14; p = .88) on negative suicidal ideation.

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Negative suicidal ideation = 19.27 + 0.17 x Addiction + 0.11 x Negative religious coping-0.07 x Acceptance Negative suicidal ideation = 0.39 x Addiction 0.08 x Negative religious coping- 0.46 x Acceptance

We find the existence of a suppressive effect at the level of the predictors “negative religious coping” and “acceptance of one’s own person”, the meaning of the relationship with the dependent variable being reversed. After completing the program, the acceptance of one’s own person becomes the most important predictor (P = .46; t = 4.72, p <.01), the increase by one point of the score on the scale of one’s own acceptance determining the reduction by .47 points of the score to suicidal negative ideation. The second important predictor remains alcohol addiction (P = 0.39, t = 4.18, p <.01), the increase by one point on the scale of alcohol addiction at the final measurement causing the increase by .17 points of negative suicidal

ideation. The introduction of interaction effects does not cause a statistically significant increase in the predictive power of the models, therefore the second null hypothesis can not be rejected even in the final measurement, so the relationship between alcohol addiction and negative suicidal ideation is not moderated by religious negative coping and by the acceptance of one’s own person, regardless of whether we are before or after the therapeutic program. XI. Theoretical implication

An element of novelty that can lead to the expansion of the theory, present in this study, is the association in clinical practice of the Minnesota Model with the 12-Step Program, the latter being used by all groups of Alcoholics Anonymous. Thus, the corroboration of study variables such as alcohol addiction, suicidal ideation, stress with moderating elements such as negative religious coping, selfacceptance or quality of life, could lead to establishing the role of these moderators on dependent variables. The use of spiritual-religious coping in the support groups of Alcoholics Anonymous confirms the complementary theories related to the treating addictions with the help of the participants’ spiritual beliefs. The improvement of the participants’ quality of life but also a better unconditional acceptance of their own person, following both therapeutic programs, led to a decrease in the level of autolytic behavior, being known that chronic addicts are at risk of adopting suicidal behavior. XII. Practical Implications

A first sanogenic element that can lead to the improvement of clinical and therapeutic

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Regarding the second hypothesis, we do not find the existence of any interaction effect, therefore the second hypothesis cannot be rejected. In the case of analyzes on the final measurement, the Durbin-Watson test has a value of 2.14, there are no significant residual correlations, the best predictive power having the whole model with three predictors when we consider the main effects (R2 = .77), but the percentage of 77% of the variance of the criterion that can be explained by predictors also seems to be caused by the possible situation of multicollinearity between alcohol addiction, the tolerance indicator indicating .27 and one’s own acceptance, the tolerance indicator being .25. The values are, however, at the limit, therefore we cannot postulate a situation of collinearity between predictors, the model having a prediction capacity significantly higher than zero in the population (F (2.92) = 107.27, p <.01):

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practice is represented by the association of complementary therapies in the treatment of addictions, therapies that do not exclude the spiritual- religious factor. The so-called spiritual therapies that make abundant use of religious coping are important resources for the addict at risk. Thus, the multidimensional evaluation of the addictive person and the potentiation of all types of resources or coping that he has, can lead to the decrease of the addictive level as well as to the removal from his area of suicidal risk. The reduction of stress and suicidal ideation, as well as alcohol consumption as a result of such intervention programs, can lead us to use such therapies on a large scale that prove their effectiveness. Knowing that the structuring of alcohol addiction is almost identical to the structuring of drug addiction, we can expand clinical and therapeutic practice by using the 12-Step Program for drug users. Conclusions As a general conclusion of the study we can appreciate that by comparing the results obtained by the participants at the end of these programs, but also by comparing their results with the results obtained by the participants forming a control group we managed to identify the most important predictors and to we include in effective models for increasing the quality of life of alcohol addicts, Thus, we can appreciate that most of the working hypotheses were confirmed as true and only in the case of one hypothesis we accepted the null hypothesis, which gives us the right to say that, for the most part, the objectives of this research have been achieved. The introduction of religiosity, as a suppressive element on addictions or on factors associated with suicidal behaviors, Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

was an element of novelty, being known that the literature presents various empirical studies that relativize the sanogenic effects of religiosity on the clinical sphere. The present study demonstrated the existence of moderate effects of therapeutic programs such as the Minnesota Model or the 12-Step Program, on risk factors such as alcohol consumption, depression, stress, but also the improvement of participants’ quality of life following the application of these programs. Although the literature presents anxiety as being quite indifferent in the presence of religiosity, the present study confirms this, not noticing any major change in this relationship. Another conclusion of this study is related to the future positioning of psychologists and especially of psychotherapists who may include in their practice elements of spirituality or religiosity, especially in clinical cases where the presence of addictions is chronic. The return to the basic elements of the human being, such as its spiritual side, can be a major turning point in the psychological act. REFERENCES [1]

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Bernal, M., Haro, J. M., Bernert, S., Brugha, T., de Graaf, R., Bruffaerts, R., ... & Torres, J. V. (2007). Risk factors for suicidality in Europe: results from the ESEMED study. Journal of affective disorders, 101, 2734. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.09.018.. Conner, K. R., & Duberstein, P. R. (2004). Predisposing and precipitating factors for suicide among alcoholics: empirical review and conceptual integration. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 28, 6-17. doi:10.1097/01.ALC.0000127410.84505.2A. Johnson, T. J. (2013). Addiction and the search for the sacred: Religion, spirituality,

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University in Constanta.

BIOGRAPHY Bolboasa Ionut Eduard was born in Constanta on March 13, 1977, he graduated from the Faculty of Letters and Theology on the specialization Theology-History at Ovidius University, Constanta, then the Faculty of Psychosociology, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, at Andrei Saguna University in Constanta folowed by Doctoral School within the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest. Betwepehnot2o015 and 2018 he was an assistant doctoral student at the Faculty of Psychosociology at Andrei Saguna Session 2. Religious, Spiritual, or Irreligious?

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Nonlocal Consciousness and the Anthropology of Religion

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Stephan A. Schwartz

Distinguished Consulting Faculty, Saybrook University, Pasadena, CA USA

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 18 March 2021 Received in revised form 05 June Accepted 10 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.20

Most discussions of religion center on dogmas and beliefs, either of a particular religion or a comparison across denominations. I would like to look at religion from the perspective of a consciousness experimentalist, setting aside the dogmas and beliefs. When I look at religion, any religion, as an experimentalist, what I see is a cohort of people consensually holding a worldview. The process of assembling the cohort seems to me very much like Thomas Kuhn’s description of the paradigm process. The paradigm in religion is defined by scripture and dogma. The paradigms differ in many ways but they all have one thing in common. All are centered on the aspect of consciousness that in science we call nonlocal, and that is now being explicitly researched in near death studies, therapeutic intention work, and remote viewing. For me what is perhaps most interesting of all in studying both religions and the science of consciousness is that this is one of history’s great confluences, the practices of the religion and the practices of science have found common ground, and reached the same conclusions.

Keywords: spiritual epiphany; meditation; nonlocal consciousness; anthropology of religion;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 X Stephan A. Schwartz. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Schwartz, Stephan A. ”Nonlocal Consciousness and the Anthropology of Religion.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 24579297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 237-244. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.20

I. Introduction

Most discussions of religion center on dogmas and beliefs, either of a particular religion or a comparison across denomina tions. I would like to look at religion from the perspective of a consciousness experi mentalist, setting aside the dogmas and beliefs.

When I look at religion, any religion, as an experimentalist, what I see is a cohort of people consensually holding a world view. The process of assembling the cohort seems to me very much like Thomas Kuhn’s description of the para digm process. The paradigm in religion is defined by scripture and dogma. The para

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digms differ in many ways but they all have one thing in common. All are centered on the aspect of consciousness that in science we call nonlocal, and that is now being explicitly researched in near death studies, therapeutic intention work, and remote viewing. In religion the individual experience of nonlocal awareness is called spirit. The eternal aspect of the self, religions’ soul. It is a concept amenable to objective veri fication. We see one aspect in the near death studies. Thanks to the research at the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, we also know something about the continuityof-consciousness. This extraordi nary decades-long project, led by two gener ations of physicians, first Ian Stevenson and then, when he retired in 2002, taken over by Jim Tucker, in the most methodical and rigorous manner have studied reincarnation. Their data, like that on NDEs, presents a compelling objectively measured case for the continuity of consciousness. And while I am on it, I think it is notable that although consciousness is often con ceived of in physics terms, some of our most important insights about conscious ness have come from medicine - the research on NDEs, therapeutic intention, and reincarnation being examples. As a researcher, I think enduring religions should be seen as examples of empirical science. I use the term enduring religions to distinguish from transitory cults. All of the enduring faiths over generations and millennia developed a kind of empirical neurobiology involving opening to nonlocal consciousness. I see this process echoed in acupuncture, which developed over 6,000 years ago,[1] and ayurvedic medicine which developed from 3300-1300 BCE.[2] There is an innate recognition of the reality of nonlocal consciousness in all religions. A small group of materialist sci

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entists, another small cohort of atheists and a few other small factions may think otherwise, but for the bulk of humanity across time, geography, and culture, within the religious spiritual context the reality of nonlocal consciousness has been foundational. Across all religions rituals are designed to the same end, to train a person to attain and sustain intentioned focused awareness. The mechanism to do this is grounded in the rituals. That is why the cultures of martial art dojoes, Buddist temples, and Christian monasteries are based on a life-style of attaining and sustaining intentioned focused awareness, though it will be expressed in many different ways. In consciousness research we confirm the wisdom of that religious anthropology. We know from the experimental data that meditators routinely do better at nonlocal tasks than non-meditators.[3,4] Whether the task is remote viewing, or expressing therapeutic intention, or any other nonlocal task. Why? Because medi tators can attain and sustain intentioned focused awareness better than random people who lack this training, and intentioned focused awareness is how one opens to the nonlocal. What differs is not the process of the experience, but the assessment we make of the experience through the culture of our worldview. Be it religion or science, we interpret the experience. In science we assess nonlocal consciousness not through faith but in objectively verifiable ways. We have protocols, and instead of dogmas and beliefs, we have objective measurement, and the shared world view that facts matter. Experiencing nonlocal consciousness is the fundamental experience of religions to open a timeless spaceless domain. That is not really surprising since a nonlocal con sciousness experience is faith’s birth cra dle. Regardless of denomination, dogma, or belief, all religions begin with a single

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appeared to him and told him he would be a messenger of God.[7] Those individual revelations only become the basis of a religion, however, if they are recognized by others. Revelation is an individual experience, but religion is a group consensus, that is what separates cranks from prophets who must have per sonalities charismatic enough to attract people to come and listen to them. Every thing after that is the product of human thought and action. From the accounts of the teachings arise scriptures and the insti tutions that grow up around those teach ings, manned by individuals who commit themselves to maintaining the dogma. But it all begins with one person’s nonlocal consciousness experience or experiences. And that person’s experiences of the non local becomes the path. With that foundation it isn’t really sur prising that religions seek to give practi tioners a measure of focused control over mind and body, holding out the promise that they, too, may be able to open to the nonlocal aspect of consciousness. Inevita bly the paths incorporate some model of nonlocal unity promising it as the path or the way. Empirical observation across mil lennia has vouchsafed the efficacy of rituals that create intentioned focused awareness. In Christianity the spirit of the Lord is the creative power of life.[8] It is an incorporeal feeling of connecting with a greater conscious unity. In the New Testament spirit is described as that aspect of consciousness wherein a direct relationship with God is possible.[9] It is the spiritual aspect that enables continuing conversation with the divine Spirit.[10] Totems like rosaries, religious statues, and structured prayers help the follower to develop intentioned focused awareness, which research has shown is the key to opening to nonlocal awareness. The Christian saint and Carmelite mystic

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individual who experiences a nonlocal consciousness event. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, whose birth is dated between 578 and 447 BCE, awakens in the hermitage of Arada Kalama, a teacher of meditation who shows him how, through meditation, he can attain the “state of non-existence;” and he does experience this state of intentioned focused awareness. There are several versions of Buddha’s awakening. I will use the description of the scholar monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu, (Geoffrey DeGraff) an American Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammatthana tradition, whose books and videos have had a major impact on the modern understanding ofBuddhism. He writes, “The Buddha described the Awakening experience in one of his dis courses, first there is the knowledge of the regularity of the Dhamma — which in this context means dependent co-arising — then there is the knowledge of nibbana. In other passages, he describes the three stages that led to insight into dependent co-arising: knowledge of his own previous lifetimes, knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of all living beings, and finally insight into the four Noble Truths. The first two forms of knowledge were not new with the Buddha. They have been reported by other seers throughout history, although the Buddha’s insight into the second knowledge had a special twist: He saw that beings are reborn according to the ethical quality of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and that this quality is essentially a factor of the mind. The quality of one’s views and intentions determines the experienced result of one’s actions.”[5] Jesus, at the beginning of the Common Era, at the age of 30, experiences an open ing of consciousness when he is baptized and goes to meditate in the wilderness.[6] In 610 CE, at 40, Muhammad experiences a revelation in a cave called Hira where he had gone to meditate. The archangel Gabriel

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St. Teresa of Avila, in the sixteenth century, counseled: “This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway. Be bold. Be humble. Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you. Ask no permission from the authorities. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home. Follow your breath.”[11] It is a statement from a medieval Roman Catholic that a second cen tury BCE Buddhist could have comfortably made, and did. The Buddhist Patanjali Yoga Sutras, which date at least to the second century BCE, illustrate this. They speak at length about moving into nonlocal awareness through meditation. Psychologist William Braud, who made a particular study of this, noted: “The sixth, seventh, and eight ‘limbs’ of ashtanga Yoga are dharana (concentra tion), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (profound absorption), respectively.”[12] The Patanjali source refines this further, Braud explains. “The repeated continua tion, or uninterrupted stream of that one point of focus is called absorption in med itation (dhyana), and is the seventh of the eight steps” (tatra pratyaya ekatanata dhya- nam). When these three are practiced together, the composite process is called samyama. Samyama might be translated as constraint; thorough, complete, or perfect restraint; or full control; it might also be translated as communion or mind-poise. Samyama conveys a sense of knowing through being or awareness through becoming what is to be known. Through mastery of samyama comes insight (prajna), and through its progressive application, in stages, come knowledge of the Self and of the various principles of reality (tattvas). With increasing yogic practice come a variety of mystical, unitive experi ences, states, conditions, or fulfillments— the various

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samadhis—along with the attainments or powers (siddhis).”[13] The linkage with the nonlocal and the creation of sacred space is another mani festation of consciousness threaded throughout religions across time, geogra phy, and culture. There is always a dedi cated place to meet, whether it is a temple, a cathedral, a synagogue, or an Etruscan oak grove. Why does this place issue seem to matter so much? Is there something objectively verifiable about “sacred” space beyond the obvious psychological emo tional importance? The research data sug gests there is. It is more numinous. Carl Jung described numinosity thus, “We should not be in the least surprised if the empirical manifestations of unconscious contents bear all the marks of something illimitable, something not determined by space time. This quality is numinous.... numina are psychic entia...”- Jung says “numina are psychic entitia.”[14] I think the research confirms that. Numina, I believe, should be thought of as information. Numinosity is a kind of nonlocal informational architecture that can be detected by consciousness, and to some degree manipulated through intentioned focused awareness. The more frequently attention is focused on anything the more it develops numinous qualities, which may be of posi tive or negative valence. The more numinous the object, the easier it becomes for others to unconsciously sense this quality. Numinous constructs excite a stronger psychophysical response than mundane objects, and as such they can be uncon sciously discriminated from less-numinous objects. In remote viewing research we know that targets of greater numinosity are easier to perceive than targets that may have similar physical characteristics but are less numinous. Functionally, that means that Chartres cathedral is easier to see than a warehouse of the same size. Why? Because

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by scrambling the letters, thus producing a total of 96 “words.” Participants who did not know Hebrew were shown these words one by one and asked to guess their meaning by writing down the first English word that came to mind. They were also asked to estimate their confidence in their guess. He found on average that the group of 90 participants were significantly more confi dent about their guesses when viewing real words than scrambled words, even though they did not know some of the words were real and others false.[17] The third test was reported by Alan Pickering a psychologist specializing in cognitive psychology. At the time he was a lecturer at The Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire) in England. Like Gary Schwartz, Pickering used real and scrambled words. In this study they were drawn in Persian script. Participants were shown a word for 10 seconds then asked to draw it. Independent judges evaluated the reproductions with out knowing which words were real or scrambled. The judges assessed that the real words were reproduced significantly more accurately than the false words. This finding was later successfully repeated in student projects using Persian and Arabic words.[18] A fourth study was carried out by Arden Mahlberg, an American psychologist at the Integral Psychology Center. Mahlberg took a slightly different tack, instead of language as that term is usually understood he used a code. In 1836, Samuel Morse inventor of the telegraph created a code, assisted by Joseph Henry and Alfred Vail that permitted messages to be sent as a series of electric signals. The code consisted of a sequence of dits, a short signal, in written form represented by a dot, and dahs, a long signal, represented by a dash. Mahlberg created a series of real Morse code messages and a similar-looking but fake code. His participants were all peo

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Chartres, from the moment of its conception and for all the centuries since that moment, has been the focus of unnumbered acts of intentioned awareness experi enced in a heightened state of emotion. In contrast nobody pays any attention to warehouses. Similarly, water left in a room where therapeutic intention is regularly expressed has a different infrared spectroscopy profile than control water located in another space. The dynamics of numinosity even extend into the letters of the languages in which Scriptures are written. Can that be possible? It is such a radical idea that I want to present seven experiments carried out in different places, at different times, by different researchers. Five of them involved a prediction of improved mem ory, one involving improved confidence, and one involving a greater sense of “spirit” for real vs. fake words. They all focused on a model of consciousness reported by British biologist Rupert Sheldrake that he called Morphic Resonance.[15] A model that is closely resonant with the idea of numinosity. The first test involved memorization of a nursery rhyme in Japanese by non-Japanese speakers, one a real nursery rhyme and two that were meaningless. Then participants in the UK and the USA were asked which they could remember better, predicting that the real nursery rhyme would be easier to remember because of morphic resonance. Rupert Sheldrake, who formulated the idea upon which the study was based reports “that this was indeed the result, to a statisti cally significant degree.”[16] A second test was reported by Gary Schwartz, then a Yale professor of psy chology, currently Director of The Labora tory for Advances in Consciousness and Health at the University of Arizona. Schwartz used 48 three-letter Hebrew words from the Old Testament, of which 24 were common and 24 were rare words. From each of those words he produced a meaningless anagram

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ple who did not know Morse code, a rather specialized skill. The protocol was a comparison of the ability to learn the fake and genuine Morse code. On aver age, participants learned real Morse code significantly more accurately than the new code.[19] A fifth study by was carried out German psychology professor Suitbert Ertel, at the University of Gottingen. Ertel tested rec ognition of hiragana, a phonetic form Jap anese writing and predicted that these characters would be recognized better when they were the right side up than when upside down, since right side up would correspond to the “morphic form” known by Japanese writers. This is what he found. In another experiment, he compared memory for fake vs. real hiragana characters, and found that real characters were remembered better than fakes. Ertel then ran additional, more complex tests, which resulted in ambiguous outcomes. Robert Schorn, professor of psychology at Department of Psychology and Medical Sciences, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Hall in Tyrol, Austria, Gottfried Tappeiner, professor in the Department of Economic Theory, Economic Policy and Economic History at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and statistician Janette Walde Department of Statistics also at the University of Innsbruck conducted a sixth study relevant to the anthropology of religion. They used symbols such as flags, emblems or trademarks that were once well known but were now forgotten, or symbols that are very familiar to some people but not others, such as the Chinese Coca-Cola symbol, or Far Eastern religious symbols. For each real symbol, a fake symbol was created using similar patterns and com plexity. Participants were then shown pairs of symbols, one real and the false, in a ran dom order, and they were asked to judge

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which of each pair had more “spirit.” They selected real symbols significantly more often than the fake ones. In a follow up test this group compared real Russian words written in Cyrillic along with meaningless anagrams. Again real and false words were presented in pairs, and participants judged which word had more “spirit.” As before, real words were selected significantly more than the anagrams.[20] Kimberly Robbins and Chris Roe, both part of the Psychology Division at the University of Northampton, Park Campus in Northhampton England, designed an experiment similar to the one used by Ertel, this time using real and fake Chinese characters. Sixty participants who knew nothing of the Chinese language or the characters used to write it, were shown five real and five fake Chinese characters in a random sequence. Then on a sheet with 20 characters they were asked to circle the 10 they had just seen. They recognized the real characters significantly better than the false ones.[21] What is all this data telling us? The forms of the rituals of religion, the places where these rituals are conducted, even down to the letters in which the scriptures cited there are written, are founded in consciousness. Finally, let me turn to the elements of the rituals themselves because they too, I think, were all designed through empirical observation across generations with nonlo cal consciousness in mind. Although the dogmas and culture of each religion are very different, the rituals are remarkably similar and constitute protocols for open ing to nonlocal consciousness, in the same way that a research protocol supports indi viduals opening to nonlocal consciousness in a remote viewing experiment. The only real different is context and intent. In reli gion the context is a religious service or practice, and the intent is to have a sense of spiritual connection. In science the context

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regulation and may lead to increased activity in brain regions associ ated with attention such as dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).”[24] From New- berg’s work and that of other researchers has arisen the subdiscipline of Neurotheology. For me what is perhaps most interesting of all in studying both religions and sci ence is that this is one of history’s great confluences, the practices of the religion and the practices of science have found common ground, and reached the same conclusions. References [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

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White A, Ernst E. A Brief History of Acupuncture Rheumatology. 2004;43(5):662663. 1 May; h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 9 3 / rheumatol-ogy/keg005. History of Ayurveda. National Ayurvedic Medical Association. https://www.ayurve danama.org/history-of-ayurveda/. Accessed: 14 July 2018. Schwartz S, Dossey L. “Nonlocality, intention, and observer effects in healing studies: laying a foundation for the future.” Explore. 2010;6 (5):295-307. h t t p s : / / d o i . org/10.1016/j.explore.2010.06.011. Sep-Oct. Schwartz S. Through Time and Space: The Evidence for Remote Viewing in The Evidence for Psi. ed 2015. Bhikkhu T. The Meaning of the Buddha’s Awakening, 1997. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/awakening. html. Accessed 7 August 2018. Matthew 3:13-17 New International Ver sion. https://www.biblegateway.com/pas sage/?search=Matthew+3%3A13-17&ver sion=NIV. Accessed 9 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/ 20120915231807/http://www.islamibaya naat.com/MQ/English-MaarifulQuranMuftiShafiUsmaniRA-Vol-1-IntroHistor yAndPage-0-28.pdf. Psalm 33:6. Bible Gateway. https://www. biblegateway.com. Accessed 14 August 2018.

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is a laboratory experiment and the intent is to describe a target the viewer will be shown in, say, an hour. When the faith-believers gather in their “sacred” space their collective intent expressed through the recitation of the words in the language similarly make the rituals numinous, and it begins with a statement of intention. In Christianity it is often the Nicene Creed, in Judaism it is the Shema, Buddhists don’t pray to a deity conceived as the Creator, as is the case in the Abrahamic religions. Buddhist use mantras, recognizing them in much the same way that science does. As the Buddha Dharma Education Association explains it, “Tibetans pray in a special way. They believe that when certain sounds and words, called mantras, are said many times, they arouse good vibrations within the person. If a mantra is repeated often enough it can open up the mind to a consciousness which is beyond words and thoughts.”[22] Through all of the rituals there are pray ers, sermons and homilies, all oriented toward creating common intention, and this is accompanied by singing, chanting, dancing, drumming to further augment this linkage. Brain entraining ensues in which the congregations brains become synched. Gabe Turow at Stanford University describes this. “...ritual technologies like chanting, drumming, mantra recitation, and prayer, all utilize repetitive sounds to help induce a wide variety of states of consciousness that correspond to the tempo or rate of the repetition.”[23] Studying this has been a significant research effort of Radiologist Andrew Newberg at the University of Pennsylvania. He has used standard imaging tech nologies focused on monitoring the brain activity of spiritual practitioners as they exercise their practice, scanning the brains of nuns, Sikhs, and Buddhists. His research has detected changes in their brains and reported, “Meditation involves attentional

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Mark 2:8; Acts 7:59; Rom 1:9; 8:16; 1 Cor 5:3-5. Bible Gateway. https://www.biblega teway.com. Accessed 14 August 2018. [10] Rom 8:9-1. Bible Gateway. https://www. biblegateway.com. Accessed 14 August 2018. [11] Collected Work of St Teresa of Avila. ICS Publications; 1976. [12] Braud W. Patanjali Yoga and Siddhis: their relevance to parapsychological theory and research. In K.R. Rao, C. Paranjpe and A.K. Dalal (eds.) Handbook of Indian Psychol ogy. New Delhi, India: Cambridge University Press (India) /Foundation Books. pp. 217-243. [13] Schwartz S, Dossey L. “Nonlocality, intention, and observer effects in healing studies.” Explore. 2010;6(September/0ctober(5)):295-305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. explore.2010.06.011. Also in Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality. ed. L. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012 (in press). [14] Jung C. Dreams II. Trans. by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton University Press Princeton N.J., 1974. [15] Sheldrake R. A New Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Formative Causation. London: Blond and Briggs; 1981. [16] Sheldake R. The Presence ofthe Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature. Roches ter, Vt.: Park Street Press; 1995. [17] Sheldrake, p. 192. [18] Sheldrake, pp. 192-193. [19] Mahlberg A. “Evidence of collective mem ory: a test of Sheldrake’s theory.” J Anal Psychol 1987(January(32)):23-34. https:// doi. org/10.1111/j.1465-5922.1987.00023.x. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/ 10.1111/j.1465-5922.1987.00023.x. Accessed 14 August 2018. [20] Schorn R, Tappenier G, Walde J. “Analyzing ‘spooky action at a distance’ concerning brand logos.” Innov Mark. 2006;2(1):4560. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia. edu. documents/41281873/Analyzing_Spooky_Action_at_a_Distance_2016011621129-akr04x.pdf. Accessed 12 May 2018. [21] Robbins K, Roe C. “An empirical test of the theory of morphic resonance by using rec ognition for chinese symbols.” Explore. [9]

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2010;6(July-August(4)):256-262. https:// doi. org/10.1016/j.explore.2010.04.001. [22] Do Buddhists Pray? Buddhist Dharma Edu cation Association. https://www.buddha net. net/e-learning/history/b_faqs.htm. Accessed 14 August 2018. [23] Turow G. Auditory Driving as a Ritual Technology: A Review and Analysis, Religious Studies Honors Thesis. Stanford University; 2005. [24] Baron Short E, Kose S, Mu Q, Borckardt J, Newberg A, George MS, Kozel FA. “Regional brain activation during meditation shows time and practice effects: an exploratory FMRI study.” Evid Based Com plement Alternat Med. 2010;7(March (1)):121-127. https://doi. org/10.1093/ecam/nem163. Epub 2007 Dec 27. PMID: 18955268 [PubMed].

Biography Scientist, futurist, and award-winning author and novelist Stephan A. Schwartz, in addition to being a columnist for EXPLORE and editor of the daily Schwartzreport. net, is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty of Saybrook University, and Fellow of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Sofia University.

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Religion in the Age of Coronavirus

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The Influencer Role of Charismatic Renewal in the Spirituality of Post-Covid Society Gavril Beniamin Micle

Director at Mathetis Bible School Bl. Mamaia, Nr. 412, Constanta Romania ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 24 March 2021 Received in revised form 10 April Accepted 20 April 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.21

In studies of charismatic movements, an essential aspect is often overlooked: any authentic religion requires assumption by faith, (to have no other Gods other than Me!). Or precisely this kind of mentality is promoted in the charismatic movements, of spiritual openness, which is willing to give credit to everything, is specific to culture, not religion. The religious dimension of the charismatic believer is of the syncretic type, unity in diversity, not of assumption, but based on the notion of option, and not on dogma, which leads him to donjuanism. Or it is precisely this danger that is underlined by St. Gregory Senaite, who warns us not to receive, if we see, anything sensitive or intelligible, inside or outside, whether it appears to you in the image of Christ, as an angel or a saint, or if it is shown to you as a light. For the mind itself has the ability to imagine things and can change, beware of receiving or rejecting those that do not know for sure come from the Holy Ghost. The problem of discerning between truth and lie, spiritual or devilish work, is the purpose of this scientific approach. The diverse plethora of charismatic offerings, as well as the interference with traditional Christianity, make us, like Pilate, ask: what is the Truth? or, rather, how can the Truth be distinguished among so many truths?

Keywords: charisma; proselytism; spirituality; ecumenical; sentimentalism; ecclesiology;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Gavril Beniamin Micle. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Micle, Gavril Beniamin. “The Influencer Role of Charismatic Renewal in the Spirituality of Post-Covid Society.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 247-259. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.21

I. Introduction

There is, in contemporaneity an illegitimate tendency, although it is conjuncture-motivated, to separate the two great currents of thought: Western and Eastern. Western thinking it is a procrustean vision, that has been amplified by the various divisions within the Church, beginning with

the Great Schism of 1054, which led to the collapse of the ancient Byzantine Empire that generated a sense of eclipse of the values of the East. Continuing with the Protestant Reformation, which was the engine of a whole mechanism determined for a series of schisms and splits, which led to a typology of syncretic thinking, damaging to the mental typology of modern man.

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The Eastern (Orthodox) hypostasis remains anchored and faithful to Christian historical values in opposition to the Western hypostasis, divided by the CatholicProtestant dispute. This paradigm forced the Church to find a formula that would alleviate the conflict of the consciousness for the postmodern man, lost in the phrase of unity in diversity. In this regard, the momentum of the charismatic phenomenon is seen as a kenotic phenomenon of knowledge and relation with the Divinity is justified. Although it harnesses the same Christian historical tradition, each current of thought has determined a different behavioral typology: The East chose the contemplative model, choosing to internalize, in [1] Mistry, protecting the kenotic aspect of the charisma, The West chose the externalization, the amplification, the activism, even the valorization of the charisms, risking the dilution of the charismatic kenotic phenomenon to the simple sensory perception, devoid of the uplifting phenomenon of living life in communion with God. Petre Tutea (1902-1991) presents us with [2] the drama of the autonomous man, of the man who mark is the stubbornness, how finally starts to live in the drama of his own imaginations. This typology of thinking is the fundamental problem for the study of charismatic movements, the diverse range of colors of charismatic thinking, adherent of perpetual adoptionism, is in the antithesis with pneumatic potchos (poor with the spirit), whose heap seems to be lost in the modern mind. The words of St. Isaac Sirul, who defines living with God as a chasm of humility, are heard [3] increasingly muffled in the noise of the clanging cymbal of the Charismatic West. In fact, in the Christian sense there can be no talk of autonomy, the more man tries to break away from God, becomes a tool of the Devil, becoming, as the Apostle Paul says, devoid of the glory of God (Romans 3,23). This egocentric man, Session 3. Religion in the Age of Coronavirus

of a luciferous type, replaces the religious vision of the world with an egocentric vision. Changing asceticism with ecstatic feeling, directing the meaning of knowledge either towards rational gnosis, by trying to recreate God’s creation, or by denial, moving into his vicious circle here and now is becoming captive, failing to transcend of ephemerality, incapable of faith. The call for Divine immanence is accessible so easily in the modern system of thought promoted by charismatic movements, in which the Divine confines itself to sensory experience, finds a wide path, without noticing the desolate and empty soul of modern man. This kenotic concept of the presence of the Holy Spirit in human life is the fundamental problem, for me and any research about the Christian Charismatic Phenomenon. All study of the works of the Holy Spirit needs to be aware of the Christ’s words in His dispute with the Pharisees of the time, that: speaking against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven either in this age or in the future (Mark: 3, 29). II. Ecclesiological implications.

When we talk about ecclesiological implications of the Charismatic Movement, we talk about a conceptual antinomy. By construction and definition Charismatic Movements are movements of religious renewal, and naturally would lead to revitalizing an existing movement, but at the same time parasitize its host by creating its own congregational mechanisms. The benefit of such cohabitation is that a new ecclesiological typology [4]is formed which is called by Veniamin Goldis “Ecclesiology of Communion” this communion is seen on two levels: Theological dialogue based on a series of bilateral documents Eucharistic Ecclesiology [5] To the interreligious theological dialogue, the Charismatic Movement contributed to the denominative rapprochement under the

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together” so that ecclesiology became the subject of systematic theology and contemporary theology. Because Ecclesiology created the framework of the dialogue of understanding between divided Christian denominations, leading them to dogmatic reassessment and revitalization of Christian theology”[8] The Charismatic Movements led each denomination to better define its own ecclesiological values in order to cope with the Charismatic proselytism that was directed: either towards Catholicization or the congregationalist. III. The role of charismas in religious

proselytism

Starting from the mechanism of understanding languages, Nicolaescu Basarab defines transculturality as “the flow of what crosses cultures and goes beyond them.” This flow that the sociologist Basarab talks about can be a beneficial exchange to the parties under equilibrium conditions, but if this balance is altered by any of the farts, then transculturality is only proselytism. [9] The problem of charisms and proselytism within the subject of the Charismatic Movements must be framed in the differences between charismatic thinking and the environment of interaction. The Charismatic sees in charismas precisely the kerygmatic tool given by God, in order to fulfill the mandate entrusted by Jesus to go and teach the gospel to every creature. (Mt.28), and the non-charismatic Christian sees in grace the grace manifested in the uncreated energies that perfect him, precisely for the mission to protect himself from the influences of the charismatic. The paradigm of proselytism in relation to Charisma is bounded by the authenticity of charisma and the way of defining its purpose.

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aegis of its own ecclesiology ecumenism, which created the neutral framework of theological media from the first meeting in 1980 in Patmos, Rhodes and until the last ecumenical councils. The second aspect of the Eucharistic Ecclesiology is one that has triggered a wave of disputes between theologians of both camps although at the declarative level we have exists as sister churches, or local churches referring to Orthodox ones while Protestants are given the title of ecclesial communities. [6] Professor loan Ica Junior points out the importance and ecclesiological implications of the Vatican II documents by which it is regulated, the relations of the Roman Catholic Church with the other church, in the context that most of the participants were charismatic starting with the one who presided over the works of Cardinal Sunnez, recording that it is contradictory in its very being, the Vatican Council II had from the beginning and still has a tense and polarized reception in the Roman Catholic world. If for a minority, but very vivid, the Council seemed inadmissibly modernist and excessively liberal, creating a rift with the classical Roman Catholic tradition, for most it seemed far too cautious and conservative. After a first and stormy phase of tension in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some balance has been struck between the ultraconservative minority right of traditionalists or integralists and the highly diverse reforming left of progressives or liberals, who want greater internal democratization and deeper social involvement of the Church. “Between these two poles, the Vatican has made and continues to work towards maintaining a difficult centrist position, in the context of insoluble and increasing tensions between the universal human and local, between unity and diversity, between centralism and autonomy, between authority and freedom.” [7] In this theological context came the Ecumenical Movement which represents the place where “all can be

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Roman Catholic, Protestant has asked the Orthodox Church in general and the Romanian Orthodox Church in particular, under the conditions of the European integration of our state and which we expect realized, new methods and procedures and appropriate forms of theological word and discourse, inside and outside the Church: in schools, faculties, associations, various jobs, as well as in the daily relationships of citizens and believers.[10] Radu Petre Mureşan defines proselytism as: “the action by which a believer is plucked from the tradition of his own Church, often by slandering the Church and the false presentation of the new faith, by offering material advantages, by exerting pressure, by various decoys and illusory promises.”[11] Prof. Mihai Himcinschi defines proselytism as “a forced penetration into another person’s spiritual life, destroying his existing spiritual structure.” The term proselytism,[12] is a word that designated the pagans converted to Judaism and then circumcised. He was the one helped by the community to find his own religious purpose, his peace of mind, and then to pass among the latter. In biblical parlance they were called proselytisms, pagans converted to Judaism.[13] Therefore, of utmost importance in today’s pluralistic Christian context is the authenticity or falsity of Christian testimony and identity. “The authenticity of identity is given by the content of faith, by the truth of this content is the saving teaching of Christianity, and by the personal confession with the devotion of faith. The confession and living of the Right Faith led to the supreme Christian quality, the sanctity of life. Christian holiness is the expression of the fulfillment of evangelical principles, of the living of Christ. The sanctity of life derives from the relationship of pneumatic experience with God through prayer and with fellowmen through love, mercy, good deed. “the modern-day

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Christian pursues the purpose of his life in a certain social and cultural-spiritual context marked by a large number of mutations in all areas of human activity”.[14] Dialogue, meetings, common prayers for Christian unity do not mean relativizing the truth of faith but constantly updating it. By virtue of the dynamics of faith, its contextualization according to the human realities in progress and whose meaning is “to be transfigured according to the model of God, after Christ, God-Man, in a process of renewal that integrates based on Christian experience, the current historical experiences of humanity, contemporary culture, Christian identity is not a static one. Relativistic postmodernism fits perfectly with the charismatic who understands the mission, as a power, “and you will receive power and witness me to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1,8), Charisms are seen as the tools of fulfilling this Mandate,[15] IPS Nifon offers us a distinction between mission and what is proselytism giving us some distinguishing traits: The mission respects the freedom and rights of each person to manifest his or her own religious beliefs through teaching, practice and worship. It proposes a higher degree of spiritual life to which everyone can freely join, without paying attention to the private life of the person, without constraining or manipulating it. Proselytism uses means recruiting members of other religious communities with the stated purpose of adhering to the new denomination. The person’s own beliefs are not only ignored but denigrated, twisted, false for the benefit of the sect; The mission promotes harmony, inner change, religious tolerance; proselytism promotes hatred of the former faith and its followers, disunity (in family, group), fundamentalism and intolerance for the benefit of the new denomination; The mission provides man with a model of

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principles conveyed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this kind of mission, the Church is proposed to the delicate, noble world, praying and waiting for the salvation of all. The groups of older or newer religious movements have, in many cases, exceeded the level of a correct mission, with the object of focusing on a false mission based on methods of determination, violence, and manipulation. Charismatic proselytism is assiduously aimed at the immediate and rapid increase in the number of adheres, regardless of whether those approached are already Christians and without taking into account the negative effects of their conversion. Pr. Gabriel Sorescu makes a classification of the types of proselytism practiced by the current charismatic movements, based on his methods and model used, I identify four typologies of proselytism: Type A, proselytism of the book or word in which a leading role is the use of books considered sacred such as the Bible, the Quran, and the promotion of the group’s own ideas through sermons, discussions, sowing, printed materials, audio, video, online. Type B the proselytism of good deeds, is masked by social- philanthropic actions, medical services, spiritual aid (advice, support), etc. Type C the proselytism of the mind, manipulative - determinative is suggested or induced, involving different forms of manipulation applied to groups or individuals. Type D force proselytism, violent and coercive, involves the use of harsh conversion methods based on mental or physical violence, threat, economic, political, family, and so on.[19] This classification helps to identify and understand propaganda mechanisms, proselytism as well as methods to counter religious offerings. As

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Christian life after Christ; proselytism imposes a set of internal rules to which the follower must unconditionally obey; The mission gives space to the human person to develop his own spiritual concerns, proselytism manipulates the consciousness of the individual; The mission unites people, proselytism isolates individuals; The mission uses the word good and faith for the transmission of truth, proselytism uses denigration, exploits the weaknesses of the community to which the converted potential belongs, moral compulsion and psychological pressure, political or social power and especially economic in exchange for the conversion of the person. [16] The mission is accomplished in the internal transformation of the person and its orientation towards eternal values, proselytism is fulfilled in the number of members won for the congregation.[17] Father Cleopa told us that “Christian sects are an apocalyptic sign and a proof of the weakening of faith in God.” Charismatics cults are multiplying because of our disregard and because of ignorance of the Holy Scriptures.[18] Mission and proselytism are sensitive aspects of the relationship between the Church and the Religious Movements. In our view, the Romanian Orthodox Church is facing a difficult situation. Having to cope with the political pressures, caused by the New European context of religious egalitarian. The ideological pressures of political correctness imposed aggressively, the internal needs marked by a growing emigration that leads to aging and depopulation of the rural environment, but also the re-evaluation of the attitude towards the Church of members influenced by the anti-clerical and anti- Christian attitude of a significant part of the media. Eastern Church is still a keeper of the honest mission based on the evangelical

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for Charisma-based proselytism, we will classify it in categories C and D. The use of charisma as a method of emotional manipulation is common to every charismatic movement regardless of its intentional nature. The difficulty of defining proselytism through charisma lies in the claim of the charismatic to act in the name of Christ. The “charisms” used as an element of legitimacy have a supernatural character. It is important to answer the Savior’s question to the disciples who the world says I am? to this question Peter answers, you are the Christ the Son of the living God. (Mt. 16,13-16) The answer to this question will lead us to identify the truth from the lie. I propose some methods of identifying false charisma, used as proselytizing: [20] The existential argument “You will know them by the fruits”, this method of verification involves checking character, social and mental integrity, family status, and most importantly belonging to the body of Christ, the Church. The scriptural argument for no prophecy was brought by the will of man, but men spoke of the Spirit of God (2 Peter 1.21) Therefore the principle of the brothers of Berea in (Acts 17,11) looked at the scriptures to see if what had said so is within our reach. King David said “your word is a candle for my feet and a light on my path “ (Ps, 119,5) The Spiritual argument, “when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth, will guide you in all truth” (John 16:13). This argument can be complemented by the Savior’s exhortation expressed to the thoughtfulness and pain of the Apostle of Love. “To the beloved, do not give credence to any spirit, but to investigate the spirits if they are from God, for many false prophets have risen in the world.” Out of all the charismas, the false prophetic charisma is the most used in proselytism, Attitude to proselytism should be what

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Zacharias had before the angel, even if he received a message from an angel he asks, what is the sign? Gideon asked for two signs even though God spoke to him, Abraham spoke personally to God and asked from what will I know? The Virgin Mary asked the Archangel Gabriel, how will these be done? Even the news of the birth brought by the angels contains a record “(Luke 2/12) We conclude with the words of Dr. Istodor Gheorghe who correctly exhorts: “The voice of the church must resonate clearly, correctly and competently about all these challenges coming from the “world”, as a totality of evil and the predisposition to evil from God’s creation. And as an exhortation to Christians, in this context, the Savior’s words must be clearly and bluntly echoed: Dare I have overcome the World....” [21] Let us remember Savior’s warning, which accurately describes charisma and proselytism: For false Christs and false prophets will rise up; they will make great signs and miracles, up there to themselves, if possible, even the chosen ones. (Mt.24.24) IV. Charisma and the cult of the chosen

one.

A major miss understanding problem of charismas is the lack of knowledge of God’s purpose to charismas. Apostle Paul sets the purpose for spiritual gifts in his letter to the Ephesians: And He gave some apostles; others, prophets; others, evangelists; others, shepherds and teachers, for the completion of the saints, for the work for the building of the body of Christ, until we all come to the union of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to the state of great man, to the height of the stature of Christ’s fullness; so that we may no longer be children, floating back and forth, carried by every wind of teaching, by the cunning of men, and by their cunning in the means of deceit; Christ.

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holiness is to deny that the Son of God, by being man, has kept His deity active in the assumed humanity and that he unites with us in Him, by God incarnate.” [25] Holiness is a duty of every Christian, as the commandment of the Old Law recalled: “Sanctify yourselves and you will be holy, that I am the Lord your God.” (Lev. 11.44). The commandment is repeated by Christ in the New Testament, where it is associated with perfection, precisely to show us that through Him we have access to full and holiness: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5.48). “The sanctity of man is a participation to holiness, to the baptismal mystery, to His life.” [26] The Holy Fathers saw holiness in a great likeness of man to God through the cleansing of passions and through the virtues that culminate in love. But since the cleansing of passions and virtues can only be acquired through the energy of Grace that strengthens human powers, likeness means irradiation of God’s presence in man.” [27] St. Maxim the Confessor says: “God is incessantly made man in His Glory. He is therefore the one who made Himself by wisdom God in man. For after man has fulfilled this mystery, he is justified by His grace to holiness.” [28] So does St. John Damaschin: “but if the Creator of all is called the King of Kings (Rev. 19,16), the Lord of Lords (Duet. 10,17), the God of gods (Ps. 135,2), that the saints are also called Gods, Lords, and Kings... I am not saying that they too are Gods, Kings, and Lords by nature, because they have reigned and ruled over passions and have unforged the likeness of the godly image, according to which they were created... and because they are united with God by will, and have received Him inhabitant within them, and by participating in him have become by grace, what He is by nature.” Our deity “also equates to humanity of God in us. [29] By assuming human Nature God in us, He is our Deity

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( Ephesians 4, 11-15). We note that in the list of gifts there is none for one’s own person. In Corinthians Apostle Paul is even more specifically showing that Charismas are “for the benefit of others” (1. Corinthians, 12,7). Against the background of globalization, along with the influence of the neo-pagan cults invading the European space, perhaps the greatest challenge to the Church in contemporaneity is the syncretism. It is desired not only a super-culture but also a super-religion, formed syncretical from fragments and pieces of different religions, which it relativizes according to the individual’s choices. [22] We have defined Charisma as “Special Gifts”, in the sense that they are special divine gifts to empower the human being to do things that go beyond natural skills and abilities such as miracles, signs, miraculous healings, the resurrection of the dead, discovery of mysteries, speaking in unlearned languages, etc. The tool of these super-human activities is man, and the beneficiaries are the community, so it is very easy for the charismas holder to lead to the idolization of the holder of charisma. [23] Divine worship means “not only the inner adoration, that is, the boundless respect and love we have in our soul towards God, but also the expression outside of this love through signs of special honor and worship” [24]. The divine cult can dress in different forms, according to the way and place where it is brought. When, for example, we worship God in our minds and souls, then we commit the so-called internal cult. But when we show this worship through words, signs, and things seen, as for example chants, prayers, kneeling, readings, and so on, then this cult bears the name of external worship. It is brought entirely: body and soul. “We all have access to holiness, for we can all fellowship with Christ through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Mysteries of the Church. To deny the power of access to

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and at the same time transform humanity in divine nature.”[30] Filling of God means filling with love, because “God is love.”(1 In. 4.8) Acquiring and living in full sincere communion, without forgiveness with God, with fellowmen, and all creation. “The virtue of love represents goodness, transparency, and communicability in the climactic degree. It has concentrated in itself all virtues or unsparing sensitivity by excellence. It’s virtue equivalent to deity? We are accustomed to manifesting our honor for the parents, for the heroes of the nation, or for the great people who through their endeavor have brought everlasting benefits for us. Much more we owe it to ourselves to do so to God who created us from the beginning and guides our steps through the twisted paths of this life. We are slaves who owe this service to the Master, as some who bear this, we have been built by Him from the beginning and have been redeemed again. In the same sense, St. Paul expressed himself when he wrote to the Corinthians: “You are not yours, for you are bought at a price; but praise God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor. VI, 19-20). [31] The manifested graces offer in truth notoriety, “we are a sight”, a gospel seen and read by all people. But without humility and love all this can be lost. Father Arsenie Boca said, “there are among us those sent by God with the gift to see above the threads. when their eyes are opened and the hearings of those beyond do not delay in seeking the teaching of a Spirit, who will shield their minds from the joy of the eaves and protect it with the humility if not, with all the gift from above may fall into deceit.” [32] We will propose some characteristics of what the worthy man (saint) means: * The Saint is not a servant of sin, but is truly a free man. He is the Christian who has managed to free himself from passions: from the greed of wealth, food and pleasures

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of all kinds, malice, anger and pride. It is the Christian who has reached a state of complete defeat, patience, humility and love, a state of permanent understanding of God and of conversation with Him in prayer.” [33] * The saint has melted in himself any fear of death, insecurity that sustains in man all forms and worries of self-insurance.... It is he who has conquered himself to give himself entirely to God from whom all strength and availability comes for his fellowmen, as for God.” [34] * The Saint takes dominion of the spirit over matter, the triumph of virtue over passions, and has a continuing growth in Christ. St. Paul says that the saint reached “to the stature of the perfect man, to the extent of the age of Christ’s fullness” (Efes. 4:13) [35] The saint is a man full of love for God, he does everything for God, and this love for Him, shows it and proves it in his love for his fellowmen. Therefore, the dominant characteristic of the life of the saint is to do everything for others. To do things above the usual ones, with the humility that, he does them not with his power but out of the supreme power of God, to claim nothing for himself, to consider himself as one who has done less than all and less than he was obliged to do. [36] This is the way of being a saint: there is nothing trivial in the saint, nothing rude, nothing despicable, nothing affected, nothing disingenuous. In it is updated in a climax the delicacy, sensitivity, transparency, purity, defiance, attention to the mystery of fellows, so own to the human, because it brings them from his communication with the supreme person. He reads the least articulated need of others and fulfills it I promise. From it continually irradiates a spirit of dedication of sacrifice to all, without any self-care, a spirit that warms others and gives them confidence that they are not alone.

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God dwelled in them, and through their collaboration with grace and through their personal, special connection and relationship with Him. Through God’s grace, which has also brought to the special power or manifestation before Him. The honesty which is given to the saints goes and moves on to the magnification of God, to whom the Saints have liked by faith and the improved life they have had.”[40] By participating in the holiness of God. [41] through participation in Him have become by grace what He is by nature.” [42] It is important to define this honor so as not to confuse it with worship, which is addressed only to God. St. Ambrose defines briefly and clearly what the honor of the saints is and what it means to honor the saints: “Who honors the saints, honors Christ, and who despises the saints, despises the Lord.” And more fully clarifies the Asteria of Asia in the following, the honor of the saints: “We do not worship the martyrs, but we honor them as true worshipers of God. We do not worship people, but we admire those who have properly worshipped God in times of trial.”[44] St. Gregory the Theologian, and like this, St. Gregory of Nyssa, say that “by honoring the saints by signs seen, we must necessarily join in this and the imitation of deeds and virtues. For only such honor of the saints is pleasing to God and worthy of the saints.” [45] St. Jerome, responds in the following way to his accusations and heresies: “What a mindless head has ever worshipped martyrs like God; who counted man as God?” related to idolatry says: “That was done to idols, and for that, it must be removed; that was done to the martyrs and for this, it must be received.” “We honor the servants, that this honor may extend to the Lord, who says, ‘Whoever receives you, receives me.’ (Mt. 10.40). Worship is not addressed to the relics of martyrs, nor to the sun, nor to light, nor

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He is the innocent lamb ready to sacrifice self-awareness and the unwavering wall that provides unbitable support. However, there is “no one more humble, simpler, more artificial, more untheatrical, more uncandid, more “natural” in his behavior, accepting all that is true human, creating an atmosphere of clean familiarity. The Saint has overcome any duality in himself, as St. Maxim the Confessor says. [37] The Saint has overcome the struggle between soul and body, the divergence between good intentions and improper deeds, between misleading appearances and hidden thoughts, between what he claims to be and what he really is. He simplified himself in this way because he surrendered himself to God. That’s why he can teach himself in his whole communication with others. He always gives courage. The saint is made by humility almost unnoticed, appearing when comfort is needed, encouragement, help. There is no unbeatable weight for him, because he firmly believes in God’s help, asked by prayer. He is the most human and humble being.” [38] The meaning of acquiring holy grace are the holy mysteries of the Church. The first three of which are called mysteries of Christian initiation or incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church, which are: baptism, oil anointing, and Eucharist. These are then followed by the other four Holy Mysteries, among which are also obligatory confession and prayer and, marriage and the priesthood. For holiness implies the dwelling of Christ through the work of the Holy Ghost, that is the uncreated power and work of God in those who incorporate themselves into Christ as the of His mysterious Body, the Church. [39] Those who have acquired the charisma and deity we honor, not themselves, because they were also created beings, but we honor them for the grace of God dwelling in them. Christ

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to angels, nor to any name invoked in the present or future world. [47] But we honor the relics of the martyrs in such a way that we worship only the One whose martyrs they are, we honor the servants, that the honor may rise to their Master.” [48] St. Augustine, on the same line, with Jerome, supports the true teaching of the true honor bestowed by the Church on the Saints:” We honor the martyrs with that cult of love and closeness, with whom in earthly life we honor the people of God, who suffer for the truth of the gospel, except that we do it with more piety because we give it to those who have overcome the obstacles and are happy life. and the cult that in Greek is called Latrice... it is a proper service only to God; neither we ourselves give him, nor do we urge others to bring him to anyone but God.” [49] Martyrs do not raise churches, do not institute priests, religious services, and sacrifices (as the pagans do for their gods). Because we do not believe them, but their God. But Christians still worship Christ and behave as religious people, which is only a stage towards the age of the Spirit. In fact, postmodern spirituality is a period of ego idolatry, an era in which the conclusions of incarnation are imposed, “man is the only God that exists”, and religion is Atheism. A secular Christianity without worship, without prayer, transcendence, animated only by an ideal of a polytheist and still selective fraternity. In contrast to this pleaded of humility and grace of the holy Fathers in Charismatic thinking Modern Charismatic who posed charismas are view as an influencer that rose up pretending Worship for themself. Contemporary religious leaders came to call themselves one by one: the prophet, the last prophet, Elijah, the paraclete finally reaching schizophrenia.[50] The use of “charismas” for your own fame is an indicator of the most Session 3. Religion in the Age of Coronavirus

important signs of verifying the veracity of charismas. The secular postmodern spirituality influence by fear of imminent death determine by Covid 19 paradigm is the perfect field for the charismatic influencer to take advantage of modern ungodly mind by presenting themselves as healers, saviors, and so on. Conclusions: Contemporary spirituality oriented only towards sentimentality and new can easily fall into the trap of religious or non-religious charismatic proselytism, which is why the discernment and authenticity of charisma become the basic necessity of contemporary spirituality. Pilate’s question to the Savior Christ What is the truth? is the definition of the postmodern covid syncretic mentality and Christ’s answer to this question becomes the model of discerning between lies and truth, between the real and the false Charisma? The waves of awakening and renewal in the 20th century resulted in an unprecedented proliferation of charismatic gifts. The movement currently has six hundred million adherents worldwide and is growing at a rate of nine million per year. It is found in nine thousand different ethnic groups that speak eight thousand different languages. Its universal impact comes from the fact that sixty-six percent of Christians in developing countries identify the Harismatic Phenomenon. The astonishing inertia is because the denominations, regardless of their age, reevaluate their attitude towards spiritual gifts. A few fundamentalists have abandoned the theory that charismatic gifts have ceased at a certain point in history, and now recognize that spiritual gifts can be expressed in any age or period of time. In the same spirit, the Catholic Church has renounced its position that these gifts

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human condition and transforms it, having super historical purpose (deity). Or these are precisely the mysterious premises of the Charismas, as the Apostle Paul says: hard food is for the perfect, who have by habit the senses learned to distinguish right from wrong (Hebrews.5,14). The diverse plethora of charismatic offerings, as well as the interference with traditional Christianity it will dominate the fragile and scared mentality of postpandemic spirituality society, Assuming the charisma, will led to superhero charismatic leaders how will manipulate under the umbrella charismatic movement thus will make us like Pilate to ask: What is Truth?, looking at the testimony of the Scriptures, at the miracles performed by the Holy Apostles, I was tempted to say that this is only the true charisma, but the testimony of the Holy Fathers of the desert, and many other proved to me that the charisma did not stop at the apostolic period, and the testimonies continue today not knowing whether those who confess are real or heretic. I have come to personally conclude that the Charismatic Phenomenon changes the question: what is the Truth? in «what is the Truth among so many “truths?” And the answer, especially for the researchers of the Charismatic Phenomenon, must be the Savior’s words “I am the way of truth and life...” (John 14,6). References: [1]

[2]

[3]

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Razvan Codrescu, Spiritul Dreptei [Spirit of Justice], (Cristiana Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018), pp.15-17; Petre Tutea, “Totul despre prejudecata si inteligente” [“All about prejudice and intelligence,”] article published in Rose of the Winds, 1933, Edited by Mircea Eliade, (National Culture Publishing House, Bucharest, 1933), pp. 222-225; Ibidem.

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are only for a small part of the more holy believers (elitism), and now declares that charismas can be found among believers of any rank. In the face of this variety of influences, Eastern Theology has managed to maintain its balance, surpassing the eccentric or heretical thinking currents it has faced throughout the ages, the uncreated divine energies have been the bond through which God descends upon man so that man may rise to God, this bond is of particular importance both for life and for the Mission of the Church. , who encounters difficulties with which he has never faced before, thus in a world immersed in passions and under the control of the sensational, the uncreated energies of the Holy Spirit, give the believer the possibility of being light and salt in a world closed in his own immanence in which he lost the meaning of spiritual perfection. The problem of the contemporary Christian is the fact that no longer believes that he can reach the heights of the virtues of the Primary Church. Even though the same Holy Spirit received by them, as we did. Reading the works of the Holy Apostles, especially those described by the beloved Doctor Luke and the description of the charismas made by St. Paul in (1 Corinthians 12.) The mind devoid of the ascetic and unknowing exercise of spiritual life goes either to the chasm of delirium, full of enthusiasm and sentimentality, to theomania, or to denial, cesaționism. Looking from the perspective of this report, man is prone, by the side of his spiritual being, to a religious activity, in which God, indispensable, remains a transcendent primordial factor and then religion is seen as: rite, ritual or culture. God is regarded as immanent, kenotic, discovering Himself to the lost man, and then the valences of religion acquire supernatural connotation(revelation), which exceeds the

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St. Isaac Sirul, Cuvinte despre sfintele nevointe [Words about the holy needs], (Trans. Pr. Dumitru Staniloae,) in Filocalia X, (Ed. I.B.M. B. O.R., Bucharest, 1981), p.63; [5] Ioan-Veniamin Goldes, Taina bisericii si implicatile sacramentale in cadrul dialogului teologic dintre Biserica Ortodoxa si Biserica Romano-Catolica [The Mystery of the Church and the Sacramental Implications in the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church], PHD. Thesis (University “Aurel Vlaicu” Arad, 2017), p.13 [6] Ibid., p.17. [7] Ioan Ică Jr. „Radiografia unei autodefiniri”, “Radiography of a SelfDefinition”, Magazine: Tabor, (No. 6/ year XI/ June 2017), P.65 [8] Ibidem. [9] John Ică Jr. „ R a d i o g r a f i a unei autodefiniri”, “Radiography of a SelfDefinition”, Magazine: Tabor, (No. 6/ year Xl/ June 2017), p. 67; [10] Nicolescu, Basarab, Trans-disciplinarity. Manifesto, Trad. by Horia Mihail Vasilescu, (Ed. Junimea, Iasi, 2007), p. 125, [11] Gheorghe Istodor, Christian Mission as a permanent and practical activity...., p113. [12] Radu Petre, Muresan, Atitudinea Bisericilor Traditionale Europene fata de prozelitismul advent, [Attitude of the European Traditional Churches towards Advent Proselytism], (Ed. University of Bucharest, Bucharest 2007), p. 360. [13] Mihai Himcinschi, Misiune si Ecumenism [Mission and Ecumenism]. (Faculty course at Orthodox University, Alba Iulia, p. 25 [14] Ibidem, p.254 [15] Dumitru Radu, Christian Living..., p.30 [16] Valer Bel, Misiune, parohie, pastorape. Coordonate pentru o strategie misionara, [Mission, Parish, Pastoral. Coordinates for a Missionary Strategy, Renaissance], (Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2002), p. 5. [4]

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Mihaita Nifon, Misiune, parohie, pastorape. Coordonate pentru o strategie misionara [Church Mission and Ecumenical Opening of the Third Millennium], (Course Support, Targoviste 2010), p.79. [18] Dan Sandu, PhD thesis: Teologia si praactica misiunii in Biserica azi [Theology and practice of the mission in the Church today], p 55. [19] Dumitru G. Pocescu, Teologie si Cultura [Theology and Culture], (Ed. I.B.M. of B.O.R. Bucharest 1993), p 157, [20] Gabriel Sorescu, Biserica Ortodoxa si miscarile religioase, [Orthodox Church and Religious Movements] PhD thesis, (Craiova, 2018,) p. 9 [21] Gheorghe Istodor, Introducere in misiologia Ortadoxa [Introduction to Orthodox Misiology], (Ed. Domino. Bucharest, 2009), p.13 [22] Ibidem, p. 392; [23] Prof. Acad. Dumitru Popescu, Hristos, Biserica, misiune. Relevanja misiunii Bisericii in lumea contemporana., [Christ, Church, mission. Relevance of the Church’s mission in the contemporary world] (Ed. Arch episcopy of the Lower Danube, Galati, 2011), p.104 [24] Gheorghe Remetea, Dogmatica Ortodoxa [Orthodox Dogmatics], (Ed. Orthodox Diocese, Alba-Iulia, 1997), p.261 [25] Nicholas Cabasila, Talcuirea Dumnezeiiestii Liturghii si despre viaja in Hristos, [The Talcuation of the Divine Liturgy and about life in Christ], quoted after, Ene Braniste, Explicarea Sfintei Liturghii dupa Nicolae Cabasila [Explanation of the Holy Liturgy after Nicolae Cabasila] (Bucharest 1943), p. 1444 [26] Ibidem, p 270 [27] Nicholas Cabasila “Holiness in Orthodoxy”, in “Orthodoxia”, 1, 1980, p 3. [28] Nicholas Cabasila “Dogmatic Theology... “, p 271 [29] St. Maxim the Confessor, Raspunsuri catre [Answersto Talasie], in Filocalia, vol.3, (Ed. [17]

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Blessed Jerome, “Cartea contra lui Vigilantiu,” [The Book 109 Against Vigilantiu], (library of Apuseni Parents), p. 298, 301, Kiev 1880, in, Silvester, Bishop de Convey, “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology”, vol. V, (Ed. “Ancestor Faith”, 2001) [48] Blessed Jerome, “Epistola 109 catre Riparin”, [Epistle 109 against Riparin] “library of Apuseni Parents, p. 22, in Cinstirea sfinjilor dupa Sf Scriptura si Sf Tradijie, [Honoring the Saints after Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition], Emilean Cornitescu, G.B., nr.3-5, 1980, p. 3866 [49] S Augustine, “Contra lui Faust”, [Against Faust] vol. XX-, cap. 21, Opp., t.VIII, (Antwerpian 1700) p. 247. [47]

Biography Dr. Beniamin Gavril Micle is Director at Mathetis Bible School. Last book published: The Harismatic Movements in Catholicism and Protestantism and its Ecclesiological Implication, Published at Ed. Universitaria Bucharest 2021. Pastor at Agape Christian Center since 2000 with a PHD in Theology and MBA in Accounting Management. He is also a keynote speaker for the International Multinational Transformation Conference held in 7 Countries so far.

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Electronica Apologeticum, f. l., 2005), p. 98 St. ioan Damaschin, Dogmatica [Dogmatic], Ed. IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2005, p.210 [31] Dumitru Stăniloaie Teologia Dogmatica Ortodoxa [ Orthodox Dogmatic Theology] Vol. I, (Ed. EIMBOR Bucharest 2012) p. 271 [32] Dumitru Stăniloaie, Teologia Dogmatica Ortodoxa [ Orthodox Dogmatic Theology] Vol. I, (Ed. EIMBOR Bucharest 2012) p.272 [33] Arsenie Boca, Living Words Second Edition Ed. Charisma, Deva, 2006, p110; [34] D. Stăniloaie, “Sfintenia in Ortodoxie” [Holiness in Orthodoxy], in Ortodoxia., Nr. 1, (1980), p 38; [35] Dumitru Radu, “Sfant si sfintenie la romani”, [Holy and Holiness to the Romanians] (In B.O.R., nr. 7-10, Bucure§ti 1992), p. 34-35; [36] Ibidem, p. 34 [37] Dumitru Stăniloaie, Teologia Dogmatica Ortodoxa [ Orthodox Dogmatic Theology] Vol. I, (Ed. EIMBOR Bucharest 2012) p 39 [38] St. Maxim the Confessor, Ambigua, P.G. 91, col. 1193-1196, [39] Ibidem. [40] Dumitru Radu, “Sfant si sfintenie la romani”, [Holy and Holiness to the Romanians] (In B.O.R., nr. 7-10, Bucuresti 1992), p 31; [41] Ene Braniste, “Nature of the Cult of Saints” in Ort. No. 1, 1980, Bucharest, p. 57 [42] Dumitru Radu, “Sfant si sfintenie la romani”, [Holy and Holiness to the Romanians], p. 33 [43] St Ioan Damaschinin, Dogmatics, (Ed. IMBOR, Bucharest 2005), pp. 209-210 [44] St. Ambrosio, “Speech54”, n.5, P.L., t.17, Col. 715, in, Ort., No. 1, 1980, p. 109 [45] St Asteria of Asia, “Word of Praise to the Holy Martyrs”, p. 204, in, Ortodoxia., No. 1, 1980, p. 108 [46] ST. Gregory Theologian, “Word 11”, Book II, pp. 303304 and “Word 14”, Book III p. 13, in, Silvester, Bishop de Convey, “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology”, vol. V, (Ed. “Ancestor Faith”, 2001), p. 138 [30]

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Society under changes

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DIALOGO JOURNAL 7 : 2 (2021) 263 - 270

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This paper was presented in the

The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today, (IVC2021SRIS)

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held online, on the Journal’s website, from MAY 21-29, 2021

journal homepage: http://dialogo-conf.com

Street children during Covid-19 pandemic in India Beata Pietkiewicz-Pareek, Dr.

Assistant Professor at Department of General Pedagogy Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Poland ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 28 February 2021 Received in revised form 04 June Accepted 05 June 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.22

The article highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on street children in India. Children living on the streets during lockdown are severely affected by poor access to food and water, lack of employment, increased likelihood of mistreatment, and a reduction in support services that could help them to change their situation. The pandemic also increases violence and early marriages, which will effectively prevent boys and girls from continuing their remedial programs.

Keywords: street children; education; India; illiteracy; Salaam Baalak Trust;

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Copyright © 2021 Beata Pietkiewicz-Pareek. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Pietkiewicz-Pareek, Beata. “Street children during Covid-19 pandemic in India.” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 263-270. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.22

India

The first cases of COVID-19 in India were reported in Kerala, among three Indian medical students who had returned from Wuhan. Lockdowns were announced in Kerala on 23 March, and in the rest of the country on 25th March, 2020. The infection rate started to drop in September 2020 along with the emerging number of new and active cases. Daily cases peaked during Mid-September with over 90,000 cases reported per day, and trend of dropping to below 15,000 in January, 2021. A second wave beginning in March 2021 was much

explosive and larger than the first, with a crisis of shortages of vaccines, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and other medicines in majority of the federal state government of the country. By late April, 2021 India led the world in new and active cases of COVID-19. On 30th April, 2021 it became the first country to report more than 400,000 new cases of COVID-19 per-day. Experts believe that India’s figures are vastly underreported due to poor hospital infrastructure, low testing rates, and people dying at home [1]. According to Sudarshan Suchi, (CEO of “Save the Children India”), India’s swift and severe lockdown to stop the spread of

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I. Introduction: COVID-19 Pandemic in

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COVID-19, imposed in March, 2021 with mere hours’ notice, made a desperate situation worse and created “fertile ground” for traffickers. As a result, a “marked increase” in child labour in urban and rural areas, where children are often pushed into working at garment factories, car repair shops or garbage dumps, where they pick out plastics to earn a few cents [2]. II. The situation of street children in

India before the pandemic

According to UNICEF, a street-child is defined as a child for whom the street has become his or her habitual source of livelihood; and also who is inadequately protected, supervised, as well as directed by responsible adults. In previous researches on street children, the street child definition referred to any child that worked on the street. However, based on more diverse global researches, different categories of children living on the streets have been distinguished, while it is still difficult to categorize the recognition of children’s complex experiences [3]. Street children in India are a result of rapid urbanisation and forced migration. There are estimated to be over 11 million children living and working on the streets of India today. These street children are segregated and unable to benefit from social security programs and frequently suffer from rights violations such as sexual abuse, exploitation and violence due to their status and lack of legal documents [4]. According to Chiranjit Mukherjee, hundreds of millions of Indians are trapped by caste and gender discrimination, and by the cycle of: Poverty -> Child labour -> No education -> Poverty. Immediate and underlying factors of child migration to the Indian street are actually non-income forms of poverty and ill-environment: family breakdown, divorce, step-parenting,

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domestic violence, beating, lack of community support, lack of extended family support, breakdown of support networks; lack of parental education about child care and development, conflict in family and stress management skills by the parents; assorted family problems including abuse; desire for consumer good, the lure of the city; unjust community structures and practices, forced young marriage, marginalization and exclusion, breakdown in traditional value system; violation of Child right [5]. The 2018 survey conducted by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights showed 70,000 children in street situations in Delhi, living in highly inadequate conditions in multiple ‘hotspots’ across the city. According to estimates there are over 200.000 children in street situations in 10 cities across the country. Of the children identified, 58.1 per cent in the age group of 3 to 5 years had no formal education, one in four girls was sleeping on the street or footpath, and 43.8 percent of children under the age of 14 rely on alms for a living [6]. III. Methodology

The main objective of the presented research is to understand the common social problems encountered among street children in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, a world in which they are exposed to social inequalities, the reproduction of the cast system, and violence towards street children. In this article, I focus on two problems. In the first part of the article I present the situation of street children. In the second part, I try to present the functioning of Salaam Baalak Trust, an orphanage for street children in New Delhi. Data and information presented in the current article are collected from various reports prepared by national and international agencies on COVID-19

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pandemic, websites.

collected

from

various

IV. The situation of street children

during the pandemic

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According to Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), based in New Delhi, the harsh lockdown and pandemic-related economic crisis have exacerbated homeless children’s (there was no comprehensive data on the number of children in street situations in the country) already strained access to food, water, healthcare, and other basic necessities. They have also been adversely affected by school closures and the shift to online education. In the absence of access to ‘smart’ devices and data/internet, the overwhelming majority of homeless children lost access to education for the last academic year and continue to be deprived of their fundamental right to education. As mentioned in the HLRN reports that night curfews and lockdowns would pose further challenges to the children [7]. Street-connected children can’t stay home and stay safe, because if they have no home and shelters are closed, they can’t access food and water, and if they can’t work on the street, then they can’t seek care when they fall ill. Therefore, the risk of being locked-up for being out during a lockdown [8]. However, there is no reliable quantifiable data available on the number of cases of coronavirus among street children and homeless youth in India. These children are unlikely to be able to access tests. In addition, contact tracing among identified cases is difficult within street-connected populations, who are disproportionately exposed to other members of the community [9]. Even, when they do not personally catch the virus or develop symptoms, the already difficult circumstances of street children’s lives are being exacerbated by efforts to

halt the pandemic. While putting in place measures designed to protect populations, such as lockdowns and curfews, national and local governments are failing to take into account some of the most vulnerable children in society. Street children and homeless youth are suffering from these measures in a number of ways. Firstly, many children and youth without homes to go to or living in crowded temporary or informal settlements are unable to adhere to restrictive measures and are being punished or further discriminated against as a result. Street children are often criminalised simply for being on the streets, and the pandemic has worsened this discrimination. This includes children being arrested and put in overcrowded cells for breaking the rules of lockdowns or curfews [10]. A consortium for street children network members in New Delhi reported that under the government aid, there is distributing food, but this aid is unable to access the interior of the slums, meaning many of the most vulnerable people are being left behind. Elsewhere, problems accessing food could be prevented if cash transfers designed to support the vulnerable reached the poorest people. This indicates a need for government mechanisms to proactively reach out to socially excluded communities and vulnerable sections of society, especially children in street situations, recognizing that even in normal circumstances they have no documentation to prove identity or a permanent address, they often are off the formal financial grid, and therefore have little to no access to government welfare and social security measures or emergency relief support [11]. Worldwide research undertaken by the consortium for street children has identified the following issues affecting streetconnected children and their families: - inability to social distance and therefore more likely to catch and, transmit the

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COVID-19; -inability to hand wash and clean surfaces and therefore more likely to catch and transmit the COVID-19; -reduced access to education and therefore loss of opportunities; -increased risk of forced labour and abuse due to even more unstable situations; -increased cost of living with concern about hunger and starvation, increased food prices, and loss of income; -inability to follow ‘stay home, stay safe’ advice leading to discrimination and sometimes incarceration; -reduced access to food and water with usual street sources closed or inaccessible due to lockdown; -reduced access to healthcare due to restrictions on services [12]. In addition, street children are increasingly being stigmatised and discriminated against by the general public, in a time where many people are afraid and misinformed. In India, consortium for street children (CSC) network members for the safe society reported that street children and their families are “facing high discrimination and torture” as a result of public perceptions of the pre-existing respiratory diseases to which their living situations make them particularly susceptible. As well as being punished or discriminated against for their inability to isolate themselves or stay indoors, the responses to the pandemic are resulting in many street children and losing existing lifelines in the way of both livelihoods and support services. Many are dependent on practices that require contact with other people in the streets to survive, such as begging or street vending. Others live with their families who are dependent on daily wages. With the populations of most of the world’s cities confined indoors and those on daily wages unable to work, these children and their families have lost their livelihoods.

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The CSC reports that children are struggling to find food to eat as a result. In some cases, private businesses that previously donated food have abruptly come to a halt. According to CSC, a daily meal service for children on the street, provided by a local business, has been suspended without warning, leaving children hungry and with no other option for food [13]. V. Child labour during Covid-19

pandemic

India’s last census, in 2011, showed the country had nearly 8.2 million child labourers between the ages of 5 and 14, mainly in the country’s poor rural states, such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Children’s rights groups say that number improved significantly this past decade but fear the pandemic will reverse much of that progress [14]. India’s Census office defines child labour as the participation of a child less than 17 years of age in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages, or profit. The UNICEF defines child labour: if between 5 to 11 years of age, he or she did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work in a week, and in case of children between 12 to 14 years of age, he or she did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work per week. The UNICEF in another report suggests that “Children’s work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and the beneficial work by promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest at the other end. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development [15]. According to the alliance for child protection in humanitarian action, there is

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quarantine, isolation, migration or death; -Myths around COVID-19 that downplay the risks of the disease, especially for children [16]. VI. Salaam Baalak Trust

In 2012 I had the opportunity to travel to New Delhi in order to provide research about street children. What I could visit was the orphanage for street children in New Delhi – Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT), NGO that offers a broad range of services to children who live or work on the street [17]. The SBT grew out of Nukkad – a streetbased intervention program that began working with street children in New Delhi railway station in 1987. The SBT is dedicated to the care and protection of neglected street children, regardless of caste, colour, creed or religion. The SBT works in areas that are the raw, harsh underbelly of the city- on railway platforms, at crowded bus stops, and in the by lanes around temples. Comprehensive services include five longterm, full-care residential facilities, fifteen ongoing contact point programs, and an emergency telephone helpline for children in distress. Contact points are identified at crucial stations around the city to establish direct contact with children. The contact points seer the way of children towards other centers enabling development [18]. As suggested by the name, contact points are first meeting place with children who have settled in the city, which is alien and often hostile to them. Contact points are located at railway stations and crowded places in the city, and are run as daycare programs. The first objective is to send children back to their families. Where repatriation is not feasible, children are encouraged to join shelter homes for fulltime care. One important feature in most of the contact points is the peer education program, in which children who have a

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some risk of child labour during COVID-19 pandemic: -More children pushed into child labour / WFCL including commercial sexual exploitation to meet the basic needs of their families; -Children, especially girls, assuming greater responsibilities for family survival, taking longer hours in domestic and care duties; -Lack of external workers places more responsibility on children to assist in family activities, including agriculture and homebased industries; -Caregivers resort to negative survival strategies including child labour and child marriage; -Child caretakers, especially girls, more exposed to risks of disease contraction by looking after sick relatives; -According to The Alliance for child protection in humanitarian action there are some contributing risk factors; -Closure of school, learning facilities and limited access to remote learning increase time at home; -Reductions in family income due to death, illness, quarantine job loss; -Reinforcement of traditional gender roles at home: increased role of girls in cleaning, cooking, and caregiving; increased pressure on boys to help their family with income-generating activities; -Weakened or overburdened governments unable to prevent exploitation in certain at-risk sectors; -Essential services for children at risk of child labour are reduced and therefore basic needs are not met; -Children in isolation do not see their peers and friends and are disconnected from other support networks; -Family separation due to hospitalization,

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long association with SBT reach out to new arrivals, share their own stories, build trust, share information about SBT, and encourage them to visit our contact points. SBT currently has fifteen contact points including Chalta Firta (moving) school and the projects on the removal of child labour in the garment industry in New Delhi. The contact point at Saket behind Anupam Cinema catered to 307 children in 2011. The removal of child labour in garment industry projects coordinated in New Delhi has been a promising initiative to meet its objective. The organization has selected the following contact points to carry out its functioning: Pratap Nagar contact point, Akansha Kishalaya, Hanuman Mandir, GRP, New Delhi Railway Station, Old Delhi Railway Station. The main activities in each contact points are: -Reaching out to new children -Counselling children to return to their families and helping trace them -Providing nutrition, clothing, and toilet facilities -Education: non-formal, formal, and open school -Comprehensive medical support -Counselling and referral to drug deaddiction programs -Recreational facilities: art and craft, music, out-door indoor games, local excursions, - and annual holidays in the hills -Creating awareness on child rights and adherence -Fostering a sense of communal harmony and an awareness of other religions, through observance of all major festivals -Creating an enabling environment for children through sensitization of stakeholders -Networking with authorities such as law enforcement agencies, local civic bodies, and railways

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-Sensitization of adults who live on the streets with their children -Restoring children back to their families [19] COVID-19 and lockdown changed the nature of the front line. The GRP center at New Delhi station, which normally connects with around 1,000 new arrivals a year, fell as quiet as the station itself when trains abruptly stopped. At all six of SBT’s residential shelter homes, children found themselves stuck inside. Some who would previously only have stayed for a few days or weeks were faced with longer uncertainty. Older children who would typically go out to school or sports training lost those opportunities; formal and higher education came to a halt in March, as did vocational training programmes. The seemingly good news that online education was being rolled out for school-aged children at the end of April was balanced with the extremely limited technology available in the shelter homes and the extra costs for internet connection. With more than eight months of being home-bound, it’s no surprise that many of the residential children experienced psychological issues such as anxiety and depression, with 70% of them receiving support from SBT’s mental health team. Group therapy and one-to-one counseling were also provided for the care staff who reported stress, fear, and burnout amidst the pandemic. As lockdown eased, things have begun to return to how they were - but with the huge extra challenge that a number of important income streams have dried up: the City Walk program and substantial levels of income from companies that have either shrunk because of the economy plunged into recession, or has been diverted from earlier CSR schemes to the fight against COVID-19. SBT has provided holistic health and nutrition care services to: -more than 1,500 marginalized children

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Conclusion The street children in India are the hardhit to the COVID19 pandemic. The street children already experienced the exhausted and painful two waves of COVID-19, The nation-wide vaccination program for all citizen in India including street children is

only the hope to back to the normal routine life. References [1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_ pandemic_in_India [7.05.2021] [2] Shivji Salimah, Pandemic has devastated India’s economy and left its children vulnerable to exploitation as cheap labour, CBC, 5.12.2020 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-childlabour-1.5828955 [7.05.2021] [3] Sara Thomas de Benítez, State of the world’s street children, Consortium for Street Children 2007, p.37. http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/_uploads/ publications/state_of_the_world_-_violence. pdf [4]https://www.streetchildren.org/our-work/ projects/street-children-in-india/ [7.05.2021] [5] Chiranjit Mukherjee, “A Study on SocioEducational and Rehabilitation Status of Street Children in Kolkata,” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19/7, July 2014, p. 65-66 [ 6 ] h t t p s : / / w w w. n e w i n d i a n e x p r e s s . c o m / nation/2021/apr/14/homeless-children-atgreater-risk-in-coronaviruspandemic-saysrights-body-2289997.html [ 7 ] h t t p s : / / w w w. n e w i n d i a n e x p r e s s . c o m / nation/2021/apr/14/homeless-children-atgreater-risk-in-coronaviruspandemic-saysrights-body-2289997.html [8] https://childhub.org/en/child-protection-news/ international-how-covid-19-affects-streetchildren [9] https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/Consortium-for-StreetChildren-submission-for-IDC-inquiry-onCOVID-19.pdf, p.2 [10]https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/Consortium-for-StreetChildren-submission-for-IDC-inquiry-onCOVID-19.pdf, p.3 [11] Consortium for Street Children, The Impact of COVID-19 on Children in Street Situations,

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and their families; -450 children living in seven residential shelter homes; -200 staff members working on ground. In the global pandemic of COVID-19, mental health is becoming seriously affected which has a huge impact on the institutionalized and children with special needs and psychological issues. At SBT currently care for 49 children who have major psychological issues, 20 of whom are on medication. All of these children need regular therapy sessions. The initiatives taken by the SBT mental health program this year include: Online sessions: The mental health team had a meeting and it was decided that the sessions (individual and group) will be taken online (video calling, work from home) and the initial plan was shared by each center counseling psychologist. Methodology: Sessions conducted via video call by staff members with older children assisted with the activities. The group sessions were conducted through a movie screening, discussion and other expressive techniques. Individual Sessions: 1. Psychosocial sessions as regular individual sessions with children to address daily interpersonal issues (emotional and behavioural). 2. Referral Sessions as regular sessions with referral cases (major psychological issues), follow up and need-based management plan [20].

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https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/06/CSC-submission-to-UNCRC-rights-of-children-in-street-situationsduring-Covid-19.pdf p.23 [12] Consortium for Street Children, The Impact of COVID-19 on Children in Street Situations, https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/06/CSC-submission-to-UNCRC-rights-of-children-in-street-situationsduring-Covid-19.pdf p.23 [13] https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/Consortium-for-StreetChildren-submission-for-IDC-inquiry-onCOVID-19.pdf, p.4 [14] https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-childlabour-1.5828955 [15] UNICEF (2012), “The State of The World`s Children 2011.” http://www.unicef.org/ sowc2011/pdfs/SOWC-2011-Main-Report_ EN_02092011.pdf P.23 [16] The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, Technical Note: COVID-19 and child labour, 2020 h t t p s : / / w w w. a l l i a n c e c p h a . o rg / e n / covid19childlabour [17] Beata Pietkiewicz-Pareek, “How Aladdin Could Start a New Life Without a Magic Lamp? The Functioning of Orphanages for Street Children in India.” https://repozytorium. amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/13086/1/ The%20Educational%20and%20Social%20 World%20of%20a%20Child.pdf [18] Salaam Baalak Trust Annual Report 2012, New Delhi 2012, p. 3 [19] Salaam Baalak Trust Annual Report 2012, New Delhi 2012, p.10-11 [20] https://www.friendsofsbt.org/covid19-andsbt-mental-health-programme

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The consequences of the pandemic. Possible strategies for the revitalization of urban space Case study in Posillipo, Naples: the Pilot Settlement in Torre Ranieri Ilenia Gioia

University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, Aversa (CE), Italy ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Received 02 May 2021 Received in revised form 18 May 2021 Accepted 20 May 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.23

This contribution underlines the conditions in which we are living, as a consequence of the pandemic events that have impacted the whole world. It is also intended to discuss possible strategies to be adopted for territorial, economic and social revitalization. Many companies have developed research and examples useful to the revaluation of the spaces of the city and that suggest the areas in which to invest to achieve this goal. It is also addressed the issue of the resilient periphery, a topic that has become extremely current if you try to consider the virus positively as a catalyst for opportunities. Speaking of the periphery, the example of a residential complex in Posillipo, Italy, is examined. An avant-garde project in a residential context in which, to this day, despite the many qualities of the neighborhood, its shortcomings are strongly felt: services not easily accessible, absent transportation, etc. In conclusion, having suggested the possible strategies and approaches to be adopted, it is hoped that with the funds made available, the idea of territorial recovery and enhancement can really become a reality.

Keywords: Architecture; Covid-19; human spaces; strategies; revitalization;

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Copyright © 2021 Ilenia Gioia. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Gioia, Ilenia. “The consequences of the pandemic. Possible strategies for the revitalization of urban space. Case study in Posillipo, Naples: the Pilot Settlement in Torre Ranieri” DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 271-279. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.23

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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I. Introduction: CONSEQUENCES OF

THE PANDEMIC

This paper intends to highlight the changes in the needs of our society that took place as a result of the global pandemic caused by the spread of Covid-19. The new habits, acquired also in a forced way during the quarantine period and dictated by the rules given for the recovery, have sanctioned a change in our lifestyle1. As a result, the needs of the community have changed and are likely to continue to change. The epidemic has shed light on the weaknesses of our political system, which in recent years has privileged the economy and the interests of the “few” over welfare. This condition has led to reflection on the human dimension of being, which technological progress has somewhat alienated, on the fragility of life and also on the social divide. These are the consequences that have emerged from the pandemic that, in the midst of our busy lives, we could not grasp with the current intensity. It is therefore not surprising if society finds itself changed if needs and priorities have changed if people are looking for greater quality starting from the environment, both domestic and urban, in which we live. In an interview, Norman Foster believes that the pandemic has simply accelerated and magnified the inevitable, leading however to a greater awareness of the improvements to be adopted: more sustainable buildings and transport, urban agriculture, new parameters that certainly contribute to improve the general state of health with superior performance2. This 1 The Doxa Futuring Lab has conducted an analysis entitled “Special Report 2020: The New Normal” in which the theme of change as a result of the current health emergency is addressed through four thematic focuses: home and new functions, digital boost, personal services and social responsibility. 2 Speaking at the Forum of Mayors 2020 hosted in Geneva on October 6, 2020, British architect and designer Norman Foster reflects on how major dramatic

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inclination will tend to transform urban centers and local neighborhoods making them healthier, safer and greener. The propensity to move from the city center to the suburbs is becoming increasingly widespread in the decisions of most of the population. This decision, however, must be accompanied by a well-structured alternative to the urban center and what it offers; the need to move to decentralized areas must surely be associated with the need to develop housing units of a mixed model pertaining to the shared ownership of resources, from the presence of public services and sports facilities to the existence of green areas and assistance to vulnerable groups. II. PROSPECTS FOR TERRITORIAL

REVITALIZATION

The international engineering company Arup has conducted research to evaluate the livability of cities, considering as an indicator the quality of life when essential facilities are only 15 minutes away from home by bicycle or on foot. The investigation was developed by comparing the testimonies of about 5000 inhabitants of major European cities and outlining the change in priorities on the state of mind of people who have experienced the lockdown. The concept of the “city of 15 minutes” was introduced by the French-Colombian professor Carlos Moreno, a lecturer at the Sorbonne in Paris. The objective of his approach is to reduce unnecessary travel (with polluting vehicles, moreover) in support of a new perspective that involves primarily architects and urban planners. If until now we thought of how to reach the focal points in the shortest possible time, the challenge today is to bring these points closer together, thinking of a potential revitalization of the territory. A return to the vitality of neighborhoods must be considered. Stefano Recalcati, Associate events have transformed cities.

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3 He says that spending 20 minutes in contact with nature in a park, a street or in one’s own garden, has clear beneficial effects on the person by significantly lowering stress levels.

the model of international initiatives, Italy presents some original projects: among the urban forests of Mantua and the Forestami project of the Municipality of Milan, it is interesting the movement of reconquest of green in the centers called Urban Jungles, promoted by the advanced laboratories of Prato.

Animated above all by the consequences of climate change, these plans for the reconquest of green fit perfectly into the strategies of post-pandemic recovery. In fact, the green, in the operational plans, is declined according to an innovative approach: it is not only a question of the landscape but a fundamental issue for the health and welfare of citizens. This is how a forestation plan developed by the architect Stefano Boeri finds its place in the town planning instrument, with the intention of planting up to 190,000 new trees in the city by 2030, through a series of interconnected strategies capable of attracting financing and investment4. Prato will also be the first city to have its own urban jungle, a concept 4 These include the plan for “capillary green”, to be developed even on the surface of buildings, and that for the so-called urban demineralization: in order to encourage the green regeneration of abandoned areas, volumetric bonuses are offered in height and it is requested that part of the surface be destined to green.

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Director of Arup Italia, summarizes the research addressed in three proposals: the rethinking of the ground floors of buildings to increase the active fronts in which to insert services for the community; the introduction, especially in new buildings, of spaces for common use, considering them as an expansion of private housing, in which to promote forms of neighborhood co-working, play and leisure spaces; and finally the encouragement, in the new urban development plans, of organized forms of neighborhood community, with dedicated places, which help to create a greater sense of identity. The results of the research led the company’s team to point to five drivers that will enable cities to make a turn toward post-pandemic revival: pedestrianization, forestation, public spaces for play, a mix of functions and use of technology to create digital models. Regarding the first guideline, the goal is to make the city more permeable, through pedestrianization of commercial or historic streets, with tree planting or the provision of public green spaces. It is no coincidence that this point is connected with the third, the creation of green areas, recalling the repercussions, in terms of physical and psychological well-being, that they have on a man. Enjoying the collective space, equipped or simply a green area, has positive effects on the construction of ties with neighbors, contributes to the reduction of air pollution. As stated by Dr. Marycarol Hunter, landscape architect, ecologist and Professor at the University of Michigan, it can significantly reduce stress levels as well3. Regarding the topic of forestation, in recent years there is a clear awareness of the strategies promoted by environmental policies ranging from the reduction of air pollution to the containment of greenhouse gas emissions. Even if late and following

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that goes far beyond the simple concept of urban forestation. Densely populated areas will be redesigned in a green way, entrusting plants with the task of reducing pollutants, restoring soil and spaces and making them usable for the city. No less important is the participation of the inhabitants involved in the process ensuring and increasing civic awareness and resilience of the city in a global vision. The concept of “function mix” is understood generically as the intent to reuse existing or obsolete infrastructure for neighborhood activities. Among the projects reported by Arup, there is the Olympic Park (Queen Elizabeth) in London, a large-scale infrastructural facility, built on the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games and become the starting point of a regeneration plan that has been very successful with direct effects on the economy, health and welfare of the population living in the area.

No less important is certainly the identification of attractions to be exploited for the revitalization of the area, questioning the existing heritage. The aim is to involve residents and attract outsiders, making sure that the one under analysis is not just a place to pass through, but a stage to be considered and reached. Finally, the creation of a digital model that is within everyone’s reach. A tool that would streamline

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bureaucratic procedures and make debates between public administration and citizens functional. Digitizing civic participation processes by gathering input from residents and local actors would allow politicians and urban planners to test different scenarios and identify risks and opportunities. But it also allows them to structure plans and strategies with the community to adapt the city to post¬pandemic life. This is a process that certainly lends itself to recreating trust through community spirit. Helsinki5 earned the title of the functional city because of how effectively it handled the crisis; it earned this title because it was able to achieve the best conditions for urban life for its residents by providing regular services to all neighborhoods. The key to this achievement is probably the trust created between government and citizens. In fact, the city is based on three main pillars that have sustained the management of the crisis caused by Covid-19: the introduction of technology to support services by making them simple and effective (tracking, electronic classrooms for students, digital cultural services for citizens to reduce social isolation, support for the elderly); the participation of society in the design and delivery of public services; the improvement of public transport in order to reduce the use of private transport, increase the area dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists and other series of actions aimed at making the city sustainable. The step to get to create such a transparent climate is certainly difficult but not unthinkable, especially if we consider that this pandemic crisis, in a positive sense, could be the catalyst to re¬evaluate the standards to which we have been accustomed. 5 Helsinki, with a population of 650,000, provides 40% of the country’s GDP and is the country’s largest educational, research, cultural, political and financial center. It is the world’s first functional city and provides the best opportunities for urban living through jobs, security and education.

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III. The Concept of Resilient Periphery

6 During the 28th Forum “Après le déluge”, organized by Scenari Immobiliari in Santa Margherita Ligure, Professor Richard L. Florida, an American urban studies theorist focusing on social and economic theory, gave a speech on the concept of resilience and cities reacting to the pandemic.

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Arup’s living barometer research, just considered, suggests the five strategies to substantially re-evaluate the conditions in which we used to live. Let us now address a concept that has come back into focus based on what has been said about territorial relaunching. In recent decades, more than 300 thousand people have been recorded as having preferred to leave the suburbs and move to the urban center. But with the spread of the virus, there has been a change of course: many have in fact downsized their habits, feeling the need to move away from the densely populated centers in search of nature and free spaces. The rethinking of life expectations is leading to a tendency towards urban decentralization in favor of the suburbs. Can we therefore refer to covid as a catalyst for opportunities in peripheral areas? This is how a repeated and abused concept comes into question: resilience. Particularly interesting is the meaning it acquires when combined with the concept of periphery. From psychological disciplines comes the concept of adaptive resilience: the transformation of obstacles into opportunities for growth. Interpreting the Covid-19 virus as a shock event, as it really was, the concept of resilient periphery is introduced. It is good to focus, however, not on the first phase of the process that concerns resistance, the vulnerability of a territory (in this case), but on the second phase that concerns recovery: how the shock led to recovery, restructuring or renewal. The tools that help the development of this process are the implementation of well-defined strategies on the areas to be developed and local development projects. The first includes the adjustment of the supply of essential services such as schools, transport and health services, which also aims to slow down the depopulation of the areas. Development projects, on the other hand, provide for the active protection of the

territory, the enhancement of natural and cultural capital, the activation of sustainable energy chains, etc. Another factor that has fueled theories about the revitalization of the suburbs is the decentralization, or possible decentralization, of work; with the rise of telework (there has been an increase in virtual work from half a million in the pre- covid phase to eight million current users) there is also an acceptable view of long-distance commuting. Because of this, workers, having to move less frequently, are willing to consider not living in the urban center. This theme has also been dealt with by Professor Richard L. Florida6 who maintains that micro-geography is going against a change: the places where people live, consume and produce may change, but the macro¬geography of the metropolis will not. The issue of remote working is certainly one of the most important factors. Many companies have reconsidered the management of work from home; if the home-working trend then advances, especially for families there will be a tendency to look for larger houses with other types of services, pushing them to consider moving to the suburbs. Small towns that have plazas, food, culture have the potential to become new destinations. Conversely, most young people don’t want to live in the suburbs, they are looking for opportunities and what only the city can offer. Then there is the possibility that the crisis will accelerate some movements that will not be to the detriment of the city center, will redesign the public space, will improve the living spaces also in favor of areas that so far have been little considered.

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IV. Case Study: The Pilot Settlement at

Torre Ranieri

In support of this trend, this paper analyzes one of the suburbs of Naples, Italy. The peripheral conditions in the south of Italy are particular mainly because of the construction of new neighborhoods for the territorial revitalization after the Second World War and the management of the various urban plans. If we want to consider the hypothesis of the revitalization of the periphery, we must reiterate the concept of uneven periphery in Naples, understood as an urban “widening” and not as a development of autonomous and self-sufficient units. Initially, the urban plan of 1939 expressed a particular attention towards the development of units of the territory with its own urban structure. On the other hand, the plan of 1946 foresaw the urban decentralization concentrating the expansion close to the urban center. Only with the 1980 plan of the peripheries will the redesign of the peripheral areas be considered, but in any case, it did not lay the basis for a substantial reconsideration of the areas involved. In the period immediately following the Second World War and the bombings that resulted, many technicians were involved in the design and construction of the neighborhoods that made up the periphery of the city of Naples. Many of these neighborhoods are considered today great failures under many aspects, especially the social one. The main cause lies in the great potential of the projects, studied and developed in all their parts but not respected. At the time of realization, the services of the neighborhoods were never realized, the green spaces underdeveloped, the houses poorly finished. The consequences are now a general discontent, degraded environments, services far from their homes or non¬existent and the spread of cases of micro-criminality. In terms not exclusively negative is placed the Posillipo district, and Session 4. Society under changes

in particular the pilot settlement in Torre Ranieri.

The residential complex is of reduced proportions; therefore, there is no possibility to provide the neighborhood equipment and services for the inhabitants. The element that distinguishes this project, however, is a positive note of the design of the post-war period: the study of housing, the in-depth typological study and the experimentation of an appropriate building technique. We find in fact at Posillipo, in the Pilot Settlement at Torre Ranieri, a real laboratory in which the most innovative building techniques developed by the Center for Construction Studies (CESUN) were tested. The center was born within the Faculty of Engineering in Naples, and the main exponent, Eng. Luigi Cosenza with the collaboration of Eng. Adriano Galli and Arch. Francesco della Sala study a series of prototypes set up on the concept of free plan that find concreteness in the twelve buildings that characterize the complex. Twelve buildings, each one realized with avant-garde and different techniques, which, however, did not find a following both for public disinterest and for the little commitment shown by the construction industry still crystallized on traditional

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methods. Incisive is the orography of the territory: a triangular lot on a slope that lies on the crest of the hill of Posillipo, giving the residential complex a unique panoramic view, a factor that strongly determines the value of the property.

Conclusions The analysis conducted has helped to highlight the negative aspects of the presented neighborhood, particularly accentuated by the needs that emerged

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Circumscribed by two of the main roads that serve the entire district of Posillipo, via Francesco Petrarca and via Alessandro Manzoni, the residential complex is divided, internally, on a single ring road that serves the twelve buildings and that delimits the central green area. The latter, full of pine trees and typical Mediterranean vegetation is the only common space but has no equipment or routine maintenance, giving it today a state of neglect. In the same condition are the buildings as well: now managed independently as evidenced by the state of unevenness of the profiles of each prototype that led to the almost complete destruction of the generating architectural thought. Not far from the complex is the Virgiliano Park, with an area of about 90000 square meters. It offers not only one of the most scenic walks in the region, but also a wide range of vegetation crops, children’s play areas, bars and a sports facility with a soccer field and an athletics track.

Also, the remaining services such as schools, post offices, churches are within a radius of about 2km from the residential complex. The negative and very incident note is the lack of efficiency of public transport and the total absence of subway stops. If then, in general, the emergence of the pandemic has led to various inconveniences certainly underlined by the lack or inefficiency of the main services, there is also to emphasize that Posillipo develops as a purely residential neighborhood and most of the people who live in this area has different economic availability than the other suburbs of Naples. The neighborhood is confirmed as an area of value and tranquility and, consequently, the perception of a denied neighborhood life, missing services and spaces in which to regenerate without the danger of running into deplorable situations is more distant than those who live in areas with a stronger impact in negative terms.

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during the forced quarantine. The Pilot Settlement at Torre Ranieri is the subject of a broader research, and, with this analysis, current issues have been addressed that can serve as a starting point for a total reconsideration of this case study. In addition to the negative notes, we try to emphasize the potential of these spaces. The observations made at the beginning of the paper can be used as a starting point for organizations to respond resiliently to the pandemic. It is necessary to consider the guidelines set out by the major research centers to rethink urban space, but through a careful and accurate study of places. For example, it is impossible to try to decline the five drivers proposed by the Arup research group for each area without a thorough analysis of them. For this reason, it is important to listen to the needs of citizens as a direct testimony that contributes to the deep knowledge of the areas. In fact, one of the factors that determine the dignity and value of a place is not so much the science, understood in a general sense, but the people who live there and especially the propensity of these towards the area. It is necessary to try to propose new approaches and tools that aim at listening to and interpreting the requests of the community, starting from dialogue and confrontation with the community that lives in the place, promoting in this way the sense of belonging and the desire to be an active part of the transformations of their neighborhood. Think of the U.S. initiatives of community and development corporations (CDC) that see the participation of air inhabitants in networking, promoting ideas, evaluating the work of institutional decision¬makers and directly investing human and economic resources to start a process of regeneration of the area. This system is then able to establish the basis for the elaboration of an ad hoc program for the recovery of the areas in question, inevitably leading to greater social inclusion and consequently

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greater predisposition for change. As far as instruments are concerned, the Recovery Fund is perfectly in tune with the above. The Government’s Recovery Plan for Italy is, in fact, built around three strategic lines: Modernization of the country; Ecological transition; Social and territorial inclusion and gender equality. The latter appear to be perfectly in line with potential strategies for territorial recovery. The assumptions thus seem to give good reason to argue that we could be on the right track for radical urban transformation. References [1] Cosenza, Gianni. Luigi Cosenza. L’opera completa. Naples: Electa, 1987. [2] Cosenza, Luigi. Esperienze di Architettura. Naples: Macchiaroli, 1950. [3] Giordano, Paolo. Guide di Architettura moderna e contemporanea. Napoles. Nasples: Officina edizioni, 1994. [4] Giordano, Giuseppe. Luigi Cosenza. Architettura e tecnica. Napoli:CLEAN. 2003. [5]https://www.bva-doxa.com/una-nuovanormalita-tendenze-di-prodottoe-servizionel-futuro-post-covid-19/ [ 6 ] h t t p s : / / w w w. d e z e e n . c o m / 2 0 2 0 / 1 0 / 1 3 / coronavirus-covid-19-normanfoster-cities/ [7] https://www.ehabitat.it/2020/12/07/citta-dei15-minuti-modello-urbanosostenibileprossimita/ [8] https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/dopo-covidvogliamo-piu-verde-svagoe-coworkingentro-15-minuti-casa-AD8t3f3?refresh_ce=1. [ 9 ] h t t p s : / / w w w. i n f o b u i l d e n e r g i a . i t / approfondimenti/urban-junglespratoforestazione-urbana/ [10]https://www.arup.com/news-and-events/ arups-city-living-barometerlaunches-shininga-light-on-the-15-minute-city [11] http://www.confindustria.tn.it/una-certa-ideadi-futuro-alessandrafaggian [12] http://www.gdc.ancitel.it/resilienza-le-cittareagiscono-alla-pandemia/ [13]http://visit-napoli.com/zone-di-napoli/

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posillipo/ [ 1 4 ] h t t p s : / / w w w. f a s i . b i z / i t / n o t i z i e / strategie/22519-recovery-fund-recoveryplanpiano-ripresa-resilienza.html [15] Castagnaro, Corrado, Crispino, Domenico, Gioia, Ilenia, Manna, Gianluca, Improta, Andrea,”The value of individual in space configuration,” DIALOGO (The 10th Scholarly Meeting on the Dialogue between Science and Theology), DOI: 10.18638/ dialogo.2020.6.2.18, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 6, issue 2,pp. 204 - 211, 2019.

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Time and Eternity in Origen’s Thinking as Work Paradigm of Thought for Contemporary Society Ionuț Vlădescu, PhD.

Doctoral Theological Faculty of Oradea University Suceava Romania

ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 22 March 2021 Received in revised form 09 April 2021 Accepted 20 April 2021 Available online 30 June 2021 doi: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.24

Keywords: Time; Eternity; Kronos; Kairos; Parousia;

ABSTRACT

Time has always been one of the top priorities and permanent concerns of humanity. It is a controversial and difficult subject to the frame by the philosophers of Antiquity and by the scientists of our day. The problem of defining time has raised questions about the essence, origin, content, meaning and value of time. Studies of Time represent a complex and ever-actual subject. Over time, different attempts to define time have been made, all referring only to a certain kind of time and not to time itself. In this regard, Solomon Marcus said the following: “As easily as we intuit it, as difficult as we conceptualize it, no one has been able to define it”[1], showing the difficulty of trying to define this strange impenetrable category. Thus, people know how to quantify the time elapsed between two events, but they do not know how to define it or explain time as a “moment.”[2] To live time is natural and easy, but when it is meant to be questioned and discussed, it turns into a misleading, imprecise, even more complex matter. “Even the modern attempts of time measurement, which today seems to us to be a common fact, has a history of the most complicated and contradictory thinking “[3]. The questions: what is time? and does Eternity exist? remain the main work paradigm of thought for Contemporary Society.

Copyright © 2021 Ionuț Vlădescu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Vlădescu, Ionuț. ”Time and Eternity in Origen’s Thinking as Work Paradigm of Thought for Contemporary Society.” DIALOGO, ISSN: 2393-1744, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 280-289. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.24

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eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

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I. Introduction

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Origen is one of the most prominent personalities of the 3rd century A.D., “prince of Christian allegory’s” [5], a rare personality that obliges both friends and enemies to respect.[6] Considered, together with St. Augustine, a theological-philosophical genius,[7] Origen is, perhaps the greatest Christian thinker, obviously referring to the role that Greek philosophy played in the formation of his thinking, going through the encyclical sciences.[8] Although for this reason, he attracted harsh criticism. Origen openly exhibited his desire to deepen in philosophy, while wanting to be considered Christian.[9] Eusebius of Caesarea dedicated the sixth book of “Church History”[10], along with oral material relating to his life.[11] For a millennium and a half, he was considered the disciple of the philosopher Ammonias, a leading Christian doctrinaire, although sometimes heretical, but also an ascent author of theological works. [12] Origen is known as Adamantoids or “Man of Steel’ [13], although his name would translate as “son of Horus”. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, about 185 A.D., and according to the information Porfirio gives us, he was born pagan.[14] Regarding the philosophical formation of Origen, over time the research has penciled two possible sequences: one that introduces us to Origen as Christian and close disciple of Ammonias Siccas, and another which portrays Origen, also as Christian, but being an auditor of the newplatonic magistrate. [15] I started the study from the idea that during the Middle Ages, the loss of time became to be considered a sin against God, urging people to use their time as rationally as possible, because “nothing is more precious than time.” [16] Therefore, both the attempt to conceptualize this category and the individual reporting to the existential dimension are difficult, and any attempt

to define them together is paralyzed. [17] Regardless of which field of research we belong to, we cannot define or say precisely what time is. Time can, however, be measured, lived, converted into money or other material benefits, wasted or fruitful, but its essence and nature are not accessible to us. We thus note that subjectively, the relativity of time is dependent on a particular achievement, [18] is constantly being updated, has stretched from the times of Antiquity to the present day. When we are talking about the reality between time and eternity, we must say that they do not coincide, are not mutually exclusive and according to Father Stăniloae, time can only be valued concerning God’s eternity, because “God’s eternity carries in it the possibility of time.”[19] In other words, temporality is attributed to the cosmos and man, while eternity belongs to God [20] Humanity is reconciled in Christ through His Resurrection. [21] Among the most important meanings that have been given to time throughout the history of thought, I recall the sense of gnoseological, cosmological, but also ethical-religious sense. The gnoseological meaning explained in a subjective, phenomenalistic, or idealistic manner reduces man’s inner time to a simple form of thought. The cosmological meaning considers time as the origin and constituent of the world, while also representing a physical duration, without beginning and end, cyclical, measurable, but also measured. The ethical-religious meaning considers time, not in the gnoseological sense, but ethically, as an inner element of man and as a symbol of finite and limited life in which by the ability to choose between affirmations and inhibitions, human freedom is affirmed. The ethical aspect demands to have the value of the religious one when the human condition is studied from an eschatological

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perspective, following the road of subjective salvation, time thus reaching to constitute a flow of eternity. [22] I must say that the problem of time and history is not of Christian origin. Roman and Greek thinkers saw history and time in various interpretations that were partly accepted, partly rejected by Christian thinkers, but did not ignore them. It was not only for Greco-Roman philosophy that the relationship between time and eternity was important but also the religion trying to explain the dimension of time, in the horizon of eternity. The two visions met in the cyclical conception of the flow of time. The first natural philosophers, such as the Pythagoreans, Heraclid, Anaximander, and Empedocles, advocate for alternative stages of composition, but also of dissolution of the world.[23] I incline to suggest that The Orthodox Church, taking into account the truths drawn from God’s revelation, attaches to the concept of time’s major importance, not only to eternal life but also to the time of present life. The Holy Fathers highlighted the axiological aspect of time, concerning its significance to human life in achieving its saving purpose, although they also presented theoretical studies on the essence and origin of time. [24] They proved that, paradoxically, although time is related to the creation of “ex nihilo”, it is nevertheless compatible with eternity, which is uncreated. [25] II. Concepts of time and eternity in

Origen’s work

Origen was certainly influenced by Greek philosophy, but his work is entirely under the imprint of Christian inspiration, therefore, the call to pagan doctrines has no exclusive meaning. [26] Origen presents God as superior to all other creatures, a Being in

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the full sense,[27] an eternally active Being, which manifests itself specifically through the creation and governance of the world. Falling within the Christian tradition of the late 2nd century, Origen argues that the world was created by the work of God, out of nothing.[28] His statement refers both to each creature and to the creation of the uncertain matter, which Plato considered coeternal with God.[29] Origen rejects the thesis of eternity or the pre-existence of matter while claiming that it is not the source of evil in creation and that there can be nothing but God, the Only One that can be eternal.[30] Various researches have been prepared in recent times on the temporal dimension, with astronomical time coming to compete with the atomic time. Today’s research has managed to achieve a high level of rigor and precision in measuring it. Moreover, the degree of development of a society or a community ends up being quantified by the way that man can, more or less, control time.[4] Origen failed to distinguish between the cosmological dimension and the ontological dimension but considered that God “advanced” towards something that He had not been before. Therefore, he uses the term “Panto-creator” to show that God’s power is eternally updated throughout the created Universe and is eternal with God. Regarding the notion of time, Origen, contrary to the thought of the Holy Fathers, launches the concept of cyclical time, which he inserted into his theological thinking without uniformizing the Christian revelation. He agreed with the cyclicality of time and the exit from this cyclicality but did not accept the possibility of the successful return of cycles. Referring to the “eternal” creation, his reference is also made to an endless number of cycles, but he stated resolutely that this succession of infinite cycles had to reach its end and

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the Father and the Son and that the “we do” in Genesis 1.26 refers directly to those two Persons. The passage in 1.26 connects him to the passage in Ps 32.6: “He said and were made, commanded, and built” showing the Son as the direct Creator of the world, the Father returning to him the role of being the First Creator because He commanded the Logos, that is, his Son to create the world” [36]. We note that, unlike the concept of One in Plotinian thinking Origenian Father, opens up to His creation, and thus does not remain closed in Himself. [37] So, God created the world in harmony, and created body matter in a variety of forms, with different movements. [38] Origen, together with St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Maxim the Confessor, spoke of the possibility of universal and obvious restoration about the general salvation. This view, however, has never been accepted by the Orthodox Church, remaining at the theological stage.[39] Origen believed that there was an external update of the world, but also of the things over which God manifests his supremacy and power. In fact, Origen did not differentiate between the cosmological dimension and the ontological dimension but considered that God “advanced” towards something that He had not been before. Therefore, he uses the term “Panto creator” to show that God’s power is eternally updated throughout the created Universe and is therefore eternal with God. Moreover, Origen did not believe that there was something that would be “contingent” with the world, because it would have meant to assert that there could be, in the divine plan, a certain “change”. For Origen there is an inextricable connection between the eternal world and the Eternal Being of the Holy Trinity, so that both fall or rise together. The eternal Son of God is affirmed by Origen, but staying in a relationship with the created world that is, in his opinion, eternal,[40] we notice that Origen supports the idea of the eternity of

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consequently the eternity of creation should have had a finite number of cycles. With this thinking, Origen shows his inability to incorporate events over time and keep up with the events of history, depriving him of the pillars of a genuine eschatology. His thinking is crossed by a lack of consistency as he continuously highlights the need for all creation, by rotation, to return to the state he had before the fall.[31] When referring to the word “today”, speaking various scripture passages, Origen states that “today” designates the present time, while the word “yesterday” would refer to the last. Based millennium on the text of Ps 89.4 “A Thousand Years Before Your Eyes Are Like Yesterday, Which Is Gone,” he says that this time frame represents the millennium that resembles yesterday, but that differs from today. [32] Next, wanting to clarify whether the Sabbath celebrated on certain days, months or years actually refer to the ages, he concludes that the mysterious meaning of the time of these holidays is hidden from the creatures, saying that: “This is not in the power of anyone, except that which has seen the Father’s judgment of the ordinance for all ages, after his unfathomable judgments and his unresearched and unfathomable ways’(Rom. 11., 33)” [33]. Following this address, Origen presents various time coordinates related to the holidays, insisting on the meaning of the word “today”, which he puts in connection with prayer and states that: “... he who prays to God meant that he did so forever and forever, not as if he were doing it only “today”, but also for every day”. [34] Interpreting the Book of Genesis 1, 3-5, Origen says: “There was no time before the world was, but time begins to exist from the following days. For the second, third, fourth and all the others begin to designate time,” [35] falling within the epicurean thinking who claim that time was before the world, Origen opines that the world is a creation of

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the cosmos, confusing the eternity with creation.[41] Origen calls The Son of God Wisdom and advocates for the eternity of the Son born of the Father “without beginning.” About Wisdom, Origen says that he took his existence before any beginning, in the existence of which is contained the complete configuration of creation, specifically preconceived in Wisdom.[42] When he turns the beginning of the Book of Genesis, he says that the phrase “in the beginning” refers to the Word of God, making an analogy to (John 1,1-3.) He states that this verse does not refer to a temporal co-ordinate but that “in the Son of God the heavens, the earth, and all that were made were created.”[43] Keeping the uniqueness of the Son of God [44], He is the “place of ideas” in which the world was created,[45] a vision that we find in Finlon who believed that in the Logos of God there are ideas, an opinion that also belongs to middle platonic philosophers. So, for Origen, the Son of God represents the Logos, the Truth, the Wisdom, but also the world of ideas as in the case of St. Justin the Martyr and the Philosopher. The main texts can be found in the paper entitled “About Principles. Book One,” II, 6-13.[46] Like Plato, Origen embraced the exemplary conception of the world. Being a legacy of Plato’s philosophy, Origen placed the world of ideas in Logos, and Plato in intellectual. [47] Origen proposes the following thesis on the creation of the world: the world would have existed from eternity, in God’s wisdom, in the form of an idea, and wisdom is represented by the Son. This statement, in his opinion, allows him to save the relationship between God and His creatures, which are coeternal with Him but also to avoid the possibility of a change of God, in the sense that He would have begun to create, only from a certain moment.[48] The Holy Fathers have shown over time, through their writings, that the plan of Creation was conceived in the bosom of the Session 4. Society under changes

Holy Trinity of eternity, that is before time existed. The idea of progress in God, an idea that has the value of truth only in terms of the perfect and created creatures, should be validated.[49] By exegesis of the verse in Genesis 1.14 - “for the stars to be signs”, Origen leans on the problem of stoic determinism and shows, contrary to the astrological conceptions of his time, that stars are not the cause of events that occur in the world, but only signs of these events.[50] In the same direction as Saint Justin the Martyr, Clement, Philon, and Origen argues that the cult of stars is a less serious mistake than the cult of idols [51], referring to the Christian and Jewish traditions. He tries to reconcile the Christian vision of free will with the conception of divine providence.[52] He states that the precognition of God does not determine future events, but the future determines His precognition, or in other words, it is God’s precognition that will be fulfilled. Origen’s paradox tries to solve the problem of God’s anticipated knowledge as well as that of denial of freedom, but will not use the Neoplatonic principle as Boethius. [53] Therefore, Origen refers to the concept of foresight but order in time or temporary order could not exist according to his thinking. This world contained and foreseen in Wisdom was obviously updated forever. And since God exists forever, and the world, in its entirety, would have coexisted with God, forever, we must say that the birth of the Son of God is interpreted as an act of the Father’s will, thus opposing the Valentines and Gnostics, attributing both the creation of the world and the birth of His Son to the Council and will of the Father.[54] Origen’s thinking on time could be summed up as follows: the concepts of “Panto creator” and “Father” are used together showing that the world would also have an eternal existence, caused by God’s eternity, meaning that the world should

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coexist and be coeternal with divinity to the primordial world of spirits. Origen is showing us that he remained further a tribute to middle Platonism philosophy. [55] Origen’s failure to Platonism thinking is the failure of postmodern society to consider time and eternity more of a concept. The incapacity and the unwillingness of the mind for ascesis to the postmodern philosophy led to the wrong perception of time. Time is viewed and used as an instant satisfaction and eternity becomes an unreachable horizon. III. Origen’s Cosmology

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Origen’s Cosmology presents a high degree of astronomical knowledge, unknown to Christian theology up to that time. He conceives the world in a unified way as stoics, asserting that it is made up of heaven and earth. Thus, Origen disapproves of the peripatetic teaching of the fifth element, but also that which held that the physical nature of the sky differed from that of the sub-monthly area.[56] Therefore Origen, as a tribute to Plato’s philosophy, presents the heavenly vault as a space placed above the air, being purely intelligible, representing the fourth and greatest map of the world. This would designate the earth created by God in the beginning (I do 1.1) while the “dry land” of I do 1.10, would represent the land inhabited by us. [57] Referring to providence, Origen talks about the creation of the material world in its variety, saying that in the beginning God created the world of spiritual intelligences with their distance from God began to differentiate themselves by the movement of their own free will. This led God to create multiple worlds, similar to their diversity [58], because the variety of rational beings has their cause in their freedom and not in God.[59] Thus, evil has no cause in God or

matter, but in the misuse of the freedom of creatures. [60] When questioned about the resurrection of the body, Origen states that it is not the physical body that is resurrected on the last day, which according to middle platonic thinking is always changing, but its “form”, which would be the principle underlying this transformation. [61] This principle is located in the soul and not in the body, the soul being the one who is the image of God and ensures eternal life. [62]Origen shows that the physical body is corrupt, i.e. transient, while its principle, likened to “seed” 1Cor 15,38, will become the foundation for the new life. For Origen, the doctrine of the resurrection of the body is an allegory, and he considers a body prepared for a new life in eternity, and not the body that did not know death[63] This vision of Origen is platonic, because he sees the rational part of the human soul as intangible, just as when he states that the creation of the material world is a consequence of sin, eventually comes to see the end of the world as a return to principle, according to Greek thought, affirming the resurrection of original immateriality, in its famous “apocalypse”. Affirming the purification and non-integration of rational creatures, Origen advocates the successive existence of several worlds but shows the superiority of the present world, showing that only in this is Christ incarnate and is located at the center of the successions of the posterior and previous worlds. The question of the eternity of the world was a controversial and intensely debated issue of the philosophy of Origen’s time, which was to respond to the controversy about the possibility of a non-working God before the creation of the world or the existence of an eternal world, coeternal with God. Origen affirms several times the creation of the world from nothing, which had already become traditional teaching for the Christian Church, adding that God

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is eternally benefactor and active, but the only world that is together eternally with God and over which God manifests his action and sovereignty forever is the world of ideas or that of the ideal forms of things, the world that is eternally present in Logos and, therefore coeternal with the Logos. When presenting the problem of the end of the world, Origen conceives it in the manner of Greek thought, seeing it as a return of all rational creatures to the original unity and as a re-establishment of them in their dignity and primordial condition, when God will be everything in all and in all, and matter will have to dissolve. Conclusions I can say that in Origen’s philosophical system there is both an internal contradiction and certain tensions and open splits, although it was opined that he was certainly anti-Aryan teaching, defending the eternity of the divine Generation firmly. The problem of eternity and time was one of major importance, which was the core of philosophical and theological controversies, reflected mainly by Origenism thinking. We must note Origen’s in-depth knowledge of astronomy and give him the title of the first theologian who devoted himself to unraveling the composition of the physical body of the stars. However, Origen is considered one of the most brilliant theologians and philosophers, endowed with a brilliant mind, extending his influence on the patristic thinking after him. I consider that the theme of eternity and time has been a controversial problem, requiring a response from both philosophy and theology, since the early Christian ages. Even though Origen, as the first Christian authors, hesitantly approached the two concepts of time and eternity, we must nevertheless note that their contribution was considerable for posterior patristic

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thinking. Although phased and slow, Christian thought in the early centuries crystallizes through the writings of the first Christian authors. Greek philosophy of the time was closely linked to the concept of the “Eternal Universe”, eternal and immutable in its composition and structure. The parents of the Church in the early Christian ages attached great importance to Greek philosophy, but it is the Holy Scripture that has guided them in their works. The parents of the Church will rely mainly on the idea of linear time, taken from the Jewish thinking of the time, but also from the new-testamentary Christian time concept. Perhaps what the Fathers of the Church have exposed about time and eternity, about conceptual precision, leaves something to be desired. However, in view of the socio-cultural conditions of their time, we must say that they have given answers to a wide range of questions in this regard. They did not have as their main topic the notion of time, but, in their comments and polemical works, they made only references to the two concepts, when they commented exegetically on different scripture passages. I believe the answers of the Holy Fathers of the first century like St. Justin the creation and time presented either by Plato or by the Book of Creation would have identical content, wishing to demonstrate in his writings that platonic thinking is not contrary to the Holy Scriptures. Athens appeals even more to platonic thinking by trying to shape a kind of Christian ontology. Tatian Assyrian, compared to his predecessors, presents much more clearly the creation from nothing with all its philosophical implications, without wishing to demonstrate the uniformity of platonic thinking with the Christian or Jewish one. Origen will use the notion of cyclical time without seeking to adapt it to the content of the revelation. For Origen, the eternity of

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the world lays in connection with an endless number of cycles which nevertheless had to have an end. Thus, for the first Christian thinkers, eternity is seen either as an infinite time, or as a succession of eons, or is seen as an abstract notion different from time. Using Origen’s syllogism about the creation of the divine man, modern thinking about time and eternity slips into the horizon of the luciferous mindset as said by Petre Tutea: The modern man has become a rational animal that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere Today, the Christian theological thinking, through exponents of the early ages, takes the first steps towards the crystallization of the notions of time and eternity, although until the dogmatic formulation of these notions it will be some time before the doctrine of the casework, and implicitly the theme of time, will find its classical formulation in the work paradigm of thought for Contemporary Society. References: [1] [2]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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[3]

Solomon Marcus, Timpul [Eng. Time], (Bucharest: Albatros, 1985), 5-6. Giulio Girello, Elino Sindoni, Corrado Sinigaglia, I volti del tempo [Eng. Faces of Time] (Milano: Bonpiani, 2001), 4. Armando Torno, La truffa del tempo. Scienziati, santi, e filosofi all` eterna ricerca di un orologio universale [Eng. The time scam. Scientists, saints, and philosophers in the eternal search for a universal clock], (Milano: Oscar Mondadori), 9. Caius Cutaru, “Ireverisibilitatea timpului și melancolia Augustiniana”, [Eng. The irreversibility of time and Augustinian melancholy]”, in Theologica 2 (2003):10-1. Origen, Omili, comentarii și adnotări la Geneză [Eng. Sermons, comments and annotations to Genesis] trad. Adrian Muraru, (Iași: Polirom, 2006), 97. Ioan C. Coman, Patrologie [Eng. Patrology]

vol. 2, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1985), 292. Jaroslav Pelikan, Creștinismul și cultura clasică. Metamorfoza teologiei naturale la întâlinirea creștinismul cu elinismul [Eng. Christianity and classical culture. Metamorphosis of natural theology to meet Christianity with elinism], trad. Sergiu-Adrian Adam, (Iași: Doxology, 2018), 24. [8] Origen, Omilii…, 63. [9] Moreschini, Istoria filosofiei patristice [Eng. Patristic history of philosophy], 124. [10] Voicu, Patrologie [Eng. Patrology] vol. 1, 311. [11] Coman, Patrologie, 292. [12] Origen, Omilii…, 53. [13] COMAN, Patrologie, 293. [14] VOICU, Patrologie, [Patrology], vol. 1, 312. [15] Origen, Omilii…, 62. [16] Ioan Biriș, Istorie și cultură [Eng. History and culture], (Cluj-Napoca: Dacia,1996), 192. [17] Cutaru, “Viziunea augustiniană” [Eng. Augustinian Vision], 12. [18] Jean-Yves Lacoste, Timpul – o fenomenologie teologică [Eng. Time – a theological phenomenology] trad. Maria Cornelia Ică jr., (Sibiu: Deisis, 2005), 12. [19] Dumitru Staniloae, „Teologia dogmatică ortodoxă [Eng. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology] vol. 1, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 2010), 182: “Time is not contrary to eternity, a fall from eternity, but no eternity in progress.” [20] Ghoerghe Petraru, „Timpul omului - timpul mântuirii” [Eng. Man’s Time - The Time of Salvation] in Life and Consciousness in the time horizon, ed. Adrian Lemeni și Diac. Adrian Sorin Mihalache, (Bucharest: Ed. Basilica a Patriarhiei Române, 2015), 73. [21] Dumitru Stăniloae, Chipul nemuritor al lui Dumnezeu, [Eng. The Immortal Face of God] vol. 1, (Bucharest: Cristal, 1995), 58. [22] Caius Cutaru, „Augustinian vision of time,” in Theologica 1 (2002): 13-4. [23] Nicolae Chițescu, “Oscar Cullman, „Oscar Cullman, Temps et l’histoire dans le christianism primitive” [Eng. Temps and history in primitive Christianity], in Orthodoxia 2 (1956): 634. [7]

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Dan Ciobotea, „Timpul și valoarea…, 196. Ştefan Buchiu, „Relația dintre timp și eternitate în teologia Părintelui Dumitru Stăniloae” [Eng. The relationship between time and eternity in father Dumitru Stăniloae’s theology], in Life and Consciousness in the time horizon ed. Adrian Lemeni și Diac. Adrian Sorin Mihalache, (Bucharest: Basilica Patriarchies, 2015), 93. [26] Moreschini, Istoria filosofiei patristice, [Eng. History of patristic philosophy]126. [27] Moreschini, „Despre Principii (Perii Arhon). Prefața lui Origen” [Eng. About Principles (Archon Brushes). Origen’s foreword], in PSB, 8, trad. Teodor Bodogoae, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 38-9; [28] Origen, „Despre Principii (Perii Arhon). Cartea întâia”, [Eng. About Principles (Archon Brushes). Book One], in PSB 8, trad. Teodor Bodogoae, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 65; [29] Origen, 71: “That everything was created by God and that there is no being who has not received his existence from Him, this is confirmed by many passages throughout Script which helps us to reject and combat the misstatements of some, in relation to the matter which I believe would be equally eternal to God...”; Ibid, 97-8. [30] Origen, „Despre Principii (Perii Arhon). Cartea a doua”, [Eng. About Principles (Archon Brushes). Second Book) in PSB 8, 114. Ibidem, 259; Ibidem, 304-6. [31] Origen, „Filocalia”, in PSB 7, trad. T. Bodogae, Nicolae Neaga and Zorica Lațcu, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1982), 469-77. [32] Anghelescu, Time and Beyond Time, 16. [33] Origen, „Despre rugăciune” [Eng. About prayers], In PSB 7, 264. [34] Ibidem, 265. [35] Ibidem, 266. [36] Idem, Omili, comentarii și adnotări la Geneză [Eng. Sermons, comments and annotations to Genesis] 123. Ciobotea, „Time and its value”, 196. [37] Idem, „Contra lui Celsus, Cartea a șasea” [Eng. Against Celsus, Book Six] in PSB 9, [24] [25]

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trad. T. Bodogoae, (Bucharest: EIBMBOR, 1984), 422: “I said then that Creator directly, which has Made Personal World, Is Logos, Son His God, But Father Word, The Least What A Commanded Son His to Make World, Is Creator at least First”. [38] Moreschini, History of patristic philosophy, 140. [39] Moreschini and Norelli, Istoria literaturii creștine vechi, grecești și latine. De la Apostolul Pavel până la epoca lui Constantin cel Mare [Eng. History of ancient Christian, Greek and Latin literature. From the Apostle Paul to the age of Constantine the Great] vol. I, 317-8. [40] Anghelescu, Time and Beyond Time, 20. [41] Ibidem, 37. [42] Cuțaru, „Vision of Eastern Parents”, 47. [43] Ibidem, 56-7: “So we must believe that Wisdom was born before any beginning, in every way it might be conceived. In this being, in its own right, of Wisdom, virtually all the forces and patterns of future creations were encompassed, whether we are looking at the primary beings or secondary or random realities, all of which were established and ordained from before by the care of providence.” [44] Idem, Sermons, comments, and annotations to Genesis, 121. [45] Idem, „About Principles [Eng. Archon Brushes], The Fourth Book”, în PSB 8, 297-9. [46] Ibidem, 55-6. [47] Moreschini, History of patristic philosophy, 138; [48] Pelikan, Christianity and classical culture. Metamorphosis of natural theology at the meeting of Christianity with Hellenists, 127. [49] Moreschini, History of patristic philosophy, 139. [50] Moreschini and Norelli, History of ancient Christian…, 317. [51] Mihalache, „Time and temporality,” 62-3. [52] Origen, Filocalia, 450-2. [53] Moreschini, History of patristic philosophy, 165-6; [54] Origen, „Against Celsus, the Fifth Book,” in

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Author’s Publications: “Christ Learnings in School – Elements of Religious Pedagogy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliană ‘98, Garuda-Art, Iasi-

Chisinau, 2006, ISBN: 978-9975-9896-3, ISBN:10973-7737-76-8, ISBN:13,978-973-7737-76-2. “From the General Pedagogy to the Psychological Pedagogy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana-Art ‘98, Iasi-Chisinau, 2007, ISBN:978-9975-9588-3-4, ISBN:978-973-116-019-1. “Communication – Fundamental Factor in the Educational Management” (Romanian in original) Edit. Vasiliana ‘98, Iasi, 2007, ISBN:978-973-113-055-2. “Psychological Aspects of Motivation at Young People” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana ‘98, Iaşi, 2007, ISBN:978-973-113-054-5. “Theory and Methodology of Educating” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana, ‘98, Iaşi, 2009, ISBN: 978973-116-116-7. “Psiho-Pedagogy of Adults and Adolescents” (Romanian in original), Edit.Vasiliana, ‘98, Iasi, 2009, ISBN: 978-973-116-119-8 “Didactics of Economic Sciences” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2010, ISBN:978-973116-179-1 “The Concept of Intercultural Curriculum” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2010, ISBN:978973-116-177-5 “Riddles and Manifestations of Jealousy in Couple” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2010, ISBN:978-973-116-198-3 “The Personality of the Abused Child” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2011, ISBN:978-973116-222-5 “Influences of Parental Divorce on Children’s Personality: A Case Study on Young Pupils” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2011, ISBN:978973-116-220-1 “Basics of Spiritual Psychotherapy” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iasi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973116-282-9 “Ethics of the Profession of Psychologist “Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973-116-274-4 “Ethics and Professional Conduct” (Romanian in original), Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 - ISBN 978-973116-289-8 “Pedagogical Views and Teaching Ddoctrines” (Romanian in original) Edit. Vasiliana’98, Iaşi, 2012 ISBN 978-973-116-286-7

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PSB 9, 320-1. Origen, Filocalia, 344-5. Moreschini, History of patristic philosophy, 145. [57] Origen, About Principles (Archon Brushes). Book One, 60: “... I believe that the Father’s will must be sufficient basis for the existence of what the Father wants. In His time, the Father uses no other way than the will he makes in His counsel. This is how the selfcontained (consubstantial) being of the Son is born from Him.” [58] Origen, About Principles [Archon Brushes]. Book One, p. 65: “As there could not be a father without a son, a master without an estate and a servant, so there cannot be an Almighty God, without subjects over whom to exercise his power, so that in order to prove the existence of an Almighty God, He must indeed exist. For if anyone wanted to have passed ages or long times (whatever they are called), in which nothing was created from what was created later, then no doubt it would conclude that in those times or ages God was not Almighty, but was done only later after he had upon whom to show his power.” [59] Idem, „Contra lui Celsus, Cartea a patra” [Eng. Against Celsus, Book 4], in PSB 9, 2867; [60] Idem, „About Principles [Archon Brushes]. Book Three”, in PSB 8, 257-8. [61] Idem, Contra lui Celsus, Cartea a cincea, [Eng. Against Celsus, Book 5] 352: “... Knowing That God Is Much Higher These creatures, Even If They Are Counted Above Sky and An Entire Worlds Seen”. [62] Idem, Book A Seventh, 407. [63] Idem Book A Sixth, 386: “Philosopher (Plato) Presented the first idea about space that is above”. [55] [56]

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Book Reviews

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DIALOGO [Journal of the Dialogue between Science and Theology], Volume 7 No. 2, 2021 pp. 293-295 Print: ISSN 2457-9297 | Online: ISSN 2393-1744

Book Review Book Author: Chia, Edmund Kee-Fook, author. | Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald 1937– writer of foreword Book Title: World Christianity encounters world religions: a summa of interfaith dialogue Description: Collegeville, Minnesota Publisher: Liturgical Press Academic, Liturgical Press Year of Publication: 2018 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018016785 (print) | LCCN 2018020420 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814684474 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814684221 Subjects: LCSH: Christianity and other religions. Classification: LCC BR127 (ebook) | LCC BR127 .C414 2018 (print) | DDC 261.2—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016785 2020 Book Pages: xx, 252 pages; 23 cm Price: EUR 25

Religious Pluralism is the New Social Context The effort of building bridges between religious faiths of diverse origins and backgrounds, as well as the endeavor of finding mutual crossing points for that purpose are among the most common intended attempts nowadays, but nonetheless among the heaviest to accomplish. The book ‘World Christianity Encounters World Religions’ by Edmund Chia

is among those who succeeded in this attempt for a simple reason, appointed from the very begging by its Foreword writer, Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald (Former President

of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue). So far researchers with this concern proved there are two ways of envisioning and pursuing these slippery efforts: either you strive to find ways of bypassing your religious tradition in order to survive in a growing religious

pluralist society, or you start by believing there is a way in every religious tradition of finding solutions for interfaith dialogue with others and only afterward look for it in each, not the other way around. The former presents interfaith dialogue (ID) as a necessity of survival, as means of reflecting the mobility of the modern world and therefore ID is no more than a need [xiii]. The latter acknowledges that there are no separate and distinct realms such as ‘world Christianity’ and ‘world religions,’ that need to be acclimatized to each other, because such an understanding is followed by an improvement of both, distorting exactly what differentiates them and trying to convince them of a reality that they traditionally challenge, ‘there is something else equally correct to myself’. Edmund Chia has found a way of middling these two ways in a unique manner, convinced of the latter conviction, he dedicated this entire book proving © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Session 5. Book Reviews

Citation: Ciocan, Tudor-Cosmin. Review of ”World Christianity encounters world religions: a summa of interfaith dialogue” by Edmund Chia DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 293-295. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.25 Accepted for publication March 23, 2021.

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the former one was a contextual reality since forever and with all religions. He not only strives to find these solutions but to prove this assertion is genuine and universal – the encounter between them [i.e., Christianity and world religions] has become commonplace (xv). For that matter Chia’s book is indeed a summa on interfaith dialogue. Thus, while for others ‘interfaith’ represents a ‘new’ contextual reinterpretation of religious creeds, for Edmund is used here broadly to represent all forms of faith engagements: between different religious faith traditions, between different Christian faith denominations, and with peoples who do not identify with any religion. (xvi) His understanding is therefore slightly different to other researchers in ID for the way he envisions it, not as a need/ way of surviving in a new social context, but as a tool of facilitating new knowledge, which can help us not only to correct prejudices and fallacies but also to appreciate the religious other from new perspectives (xvi). ‘World Christianity Encounters World Religions’ by Edmund Chia highlights that ID is – and thus so it must be regarded by all – an integral part of the religious mission in the religiously plural world. It first explores, in part 1, the basics of Christianity, religion, and dialogue. In its three chapters this first part is genuinely appreciative to both the history of Christianity, especially from its origins and looking at its heterogeneous tradition as well as to the phenomenon of religion, by examining the history of its study and the related concepts of faith and spirituality. The epicenter of this part is the encounter of Christian world [dogma, starting building its tradition, legacy] with the rest of the world and its religions. World Christianity also means that Christianity can no longer be per ceived through the lens of Christendom, with the power of the state and its concomitant bureaucratic tradition behind it. It ceases to have hegemonic advantage over others in Session 5. Book Reviews

society. Instead, it stands alongside the other religious and cultural traditions as a world religion among the many world religions, serving the local peoples in their quest for the fullness of life. Implied in this is the need and, indeed, obligation of Christianity to be in dialogue and engagement with the other religions of the world. (23) At this level Chia explores the diversity of ID as the (1) dialogue of life, (2) dialogue of action, (3) dialogue of theology, and (4) dialogue of religious experience. Then he moves on, in part 2, to discuss the bases for interfaith dialogue as found in Christian Scripture and tradition in four chapters. Likewise, how Christian theology over the centuries has been dealing with those who are not Christians or those who abandon their faith will be discussed, with special reference to the question of salvation. An integral part of the church’s teaching tradition is the contributions of the Second Vatican Council. (xvi) This research is very intricate since the encounter between Christianity and world religions lies on the auspices of St. Paul’s basic teaching in this regard: the truth of biblical Christianity means that true Christians have to proclaim the falsity of all other religions and at the same time have the duty of announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ to those trapped by them! (67) Finally, the book culminates, in part 3, with an exposition of the theologies and praxes of interfaith dialogue in its five chapters. The focus in this final part is on the evolution of the modern ecumenical movement and the invitation to embrace the wider ecumenism. Next to be looked at are the numerous theologies of religious pluralism that have surfaced in recent decades, focusing on the contributions of eight pioneering figures and specific themes associated with each of them. The dialogue of theology and spirituality is then discussed by looking at the exercise of scriptural reasoning, the

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Edmund Chia: World Christianity encounters world religions: a summa of interfaith dialogue

dynamics of cross-textual hermeneutics, the practice of comparative theology, and the cross-participation of believers in interfaith worship. This dynamic emphasizes on the dynamics of intra-Christian dialogue, that is, the relationship between the different Christian denominations. It begins with an overview of why and how Christianity split into many churches over the centuries. This scandal of Christian division calls for an ecumenical vision that invites the churches to strive for the unity that Christ prayed for in his disciples. The origins and evolution of the modern ecumenical movement will then be studied, as will the reasons for the initial cautious participation of the Roman Catholic Church. Each of these twelve chapters has an introduction and conclusions, thus can become self-sustaining teaching material. For that purpose, Chia offers each time additional suggestions for further reading clearing the path of further research and content development. As religious diversity has only recently come into global consciousness, the theologies that have arisen to deal with it are also relatively young. Conclusion

CORRESPONDENCE

Ciocan Tudor-Cosmin, Lecturer PhD Department of Theology, ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta, University Alley no 1, New Campus, A Building, room 035 Constanta- 900001, Romania Email: cosmin.ciocan@univ-ovidius.ro; furnici@yahoo.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8801-7426

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This summa of Edmund Kee-Fook Chia presents this ‘normal’ phenomenon of the coexistence of multiple religious confessions in a single society with delicacy and still resolving issues of high significance and importance. Beyond religious syncretism but closely resembling it, there is also the phenomenon known today as multiple religious belonging, sometimes called double religious belonging or multiple religious identities. With this regard his understanding on a critical special issue – religious conversion – is thus particular and different from the most religious believers for his acceptance on this reconversion as “hyphenated” Christians. They believe

it is not only possible but even necessary to accept the teachings and practices of more than one religion, as hybridity enriches rather than confuses their Christian living. (228) How does the church engage in respectful interfaith dialogue while at the same time be in the service of its evangelizing mission? This remains a difficult theological problem that will probably not find a resolution anytime soon. Perhaps it would suffice at this stage to conclude the discussion as well as the book with a quote from Pope Francis on how we should be evangelizing: Interreligious dialogue and evangelization are not mutually exclusive, but rather nurture each other. We do not impose anything, we use no underhand strategies to attract the faithful, but rather evangelize with the joy and the simplicity in which we believe and which we experience. (“Evangelization and Inter-faith Dialogue Are Compatible, Pope Insists,” Catholic World News (December 2, 2013), https://www.catholicculture.org/ news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=19832.)

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DIALOGO [Journal of the Dialogue between Science and Theology], Volume 7 No. 2, 2021 pp. 296-298 Print: ISSN 2457-9297 | Online: ISSN 2393-1744

Book Review Book Author: Ciorbea, Valentin, author. | Solcanu, I. Ion – writer of foreword | Stanca, Nicoleta – translation into English Book Title: Mănăstirea dintr-un Lemn – un complex monahal unic în România. Monografie istorică / Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph Description: Bucharest, Romania Publisher: The Academy of Romanian Scientists Publishing House Year of Publication: 2020 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: ISBN 978-606-8636-70-2 Subjects: Orthodox Church; Romanian Army; History; Monastery. Classification: C. 2030/2020 (print) LC record available at http://aos.ro/editura/carti/978-606-8636-70-2-manastirea-dintr-un-lemn-un-complexmonahal-unic-in-romania-monografie-istorica-dintr-un-lemn-monstery-a-unique-monastic-complex-in-romaniahistorical-monograph Book Pages: 444 pages; 25 cm Price: EUR 17

Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph The Publishing House of the Academy of Romanian Scientists proposed for publication in 2020 the volume Mănăstirea dintr-un Lemn – un complex monahal unic în România. Monografie istorică/ Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph, author Professor Valentin Ciorbea (Foreword by Professor Ion I. Solcanu, translation into English by Nicoleta Stanca), 444pp., with an exceptional design and color photographs. Academician Răzvan Theodorescu commented on the relevance of the book, emphasizing the following elements: “The volume is of real scientific value, being the result of a comprehensive documentation in libraries and archives, where the author

has found numerous unique sources. The monograph is published in a bilingual edition, which allows not only the Romanian reader or connoisseur of the Romanian language, but also the English-speaking reader to have access to the history of the monastery, its importance and role as heritage value.” His Eminence Emilian (Vlad) Nica Crișanul, Associate Professor, Vicar Bishop of the Archdiocese of Arad, claims in his recommendation for the publication of the book: “The monograph highlights the special status of the monastery as a place of prayer for aviators, sailors and, more recently, for ‘Michael the Brave 30th Guard Brigade,’ the monastery being restored during the interwar period by General Paul Teodorescu, Minister of Air and Navy.” In the Foreword to the volume, Professor Ion I. Solcanu concludes: “Professor Valentin Ciorbea takes the reader through © 2014 Journal of RCDST Intellectual property. All rights reserved.

Session 5. Book Reviews

eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928 printISSN: 2457-9297, ISSN-L 2392-9928

Citation: Stanca, Nicoleta. Review of ”Mănăstirea dintr-un Lemn – un complex monahal unic în România. Monografie istorică/ Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph” by Valentin Ciorbea. DIALOGO, eISSN: 2393-1744, printISSN: 2457-9297, vol. 7, issue 2 (May 2021): pp. 296-298. DOI: 10.51917/dialogo.2021.7.2.26 Accepted for publication March 10, 2021.

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emphasizing the achievements in the field of protection of this unique historical monument. It will be useful to a wide range of specialists, such as those interested in protecting the national heritage, architects, church painters, historians of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Romanian monasticism and military historians. Theology students and higher and preuniversity education institutions from the structure of the Ministry of National Defense will find information on the connections between the monastery and the Romanian Army. The book is the result of a careful evaluation of general and special bibliography as well as of intense research carried out during two and a half years, in the archival funds held by the National Archives of Romania, the Archive of the Archdiocese of Vâlcea and the Monastery Archive. The volume is structured in 6 chapters, 21 subchapters, annex and notes. The text is richly illustrated with photographs, mostly color, in order to give the Romanian and foreign reader the opportunity to appreciate correctly and to understand what Dintr-un Lemn Monastery represents as heritage value. The chronicle opens with the presentation of the legend of the founding of the monastery; follows the evolution between 1634, the year of the erection of the stone church, and 1863, when the secularization of the ruler Al.I. Cuza took place. Throughout the chapter, the founders, the effects of Austrian rule and the land fund of the place are presented. The period 1863-1947 is dedicated to the efforts of the abbesses for the survival and preservation of the heritage. These are pages that capture the achievements of abbesses Platonida, Paisia Vasilescu and of General Paul Teodorescu as founder and creator of the unique status of the monastery. The next chapter covers the period of the communist regime and the

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the troubled history of the settlement, which has passed through the centuries, repeatedly, through ‘ecstasy and agony.’ Undoubtedly, the work of Professor Valentin Ciorbea is the most complete historical monograph on Dintr-un Lemn Monastery, one of the most important monuments of Romanian medieval art. ” As a geographical settlement, Dintr-un Lemn Monastery is located in Frâncești village, Vălcea County. It has a history of about 470 years, during which it stood out as one of the most famous and popular places of worship in the Archdiocese of Râmnicu Vâlcea, unique in the Romanian Orthodox Church and Eastern Orthodoxy. The first main element through which the monastery is individualized at local, regional, national and international level is: the Icon of the Mother of God with the Child, the Wonderworker, according to tradition painted by the Apostle Luke. It is a special, unique treasure, not so much for its impressive dimensions, but especially for the special beauty of the painting made on both sides, a process not found in Romanian iconography. The small church built of (oak) wood is the second element. It was raised by a shepherd from the secular oak in which, according to legend, he found the icon. The third characteristic element comes from the special status of the place of prayer, worship and remembrance for aviators and sailors, established in 1939 at the request of General Paul Teodorescu (1888-1981). The opportunity of the publication of the book also came from the request addressed to the management of the monastery by Romanian by foreign pilgrims, who in recent years have reached the annual figure of 7-800,000. At the same time, the book will contribute to the promotion of culturalreligious tourism in Romania and will attract visitors from abroad. The monograph will make known the history of the monastery,

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Valentin Ciorbea: Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph

CORRESPONDENCE

Nicoleta Stanca, Assoc. Prof. PhD Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and Communication Sciences, ‘Ovidius’ University of Constanta, University Alley no 1, New Campus, A Building, room 118 Constanta- 900001, Romania Email: nicoletastanca1506@gmail.com, stanca.nicoleta@univ-ovidius.ro

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years of democracy until 2019, highlighting the achievements of abbesses Epiharia Diaconeasa and Emanuela Oprea. In the volume there are pages dedicated to the treasury and the collection of church objects, the presence of pilgrims and visitors, the activity of “General Paul Teodorescu” Research Center for the Cooperation of the Orthodox Church with the Romanian Army, based at Dintr-un Lemn Monastery, the clergy and nuns with holy living. The complexity of the subject, the approach and the scientific, bilingual Romanian-English historical discourse, the bibliography and notes make the monograph a model for other works of this type dedicated to Romanian monasteries. We conclude that the monograph Mănăstirea dintr-un Lemn – un complex monahal unic în România. Monografie istorică/ Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – A Unique Monastic Complex in Romania. Historical Monograph, due to its exceptional quality, has already been included in the databases of some national (in Iași, Cluj, Sibiu, Bucharest, Craiova, Târgoviște, Brașov, Oradea, Arad, Constanța) and international libraries (National Library of Austria, National Library of France, Library of Congress, Cambridge University Library, Boston Public Library) and it has already received a number of appreciative reviews (in Ziua de Constanța in October, 22, 2020; in Teologia journal, issue 2/ 2020; in Observatorul militar, year XXXIII no. 3 (1.594) January 27 – February 2 2021; in Marea Noastră, nr. 4, October-December 2020; Lumina, 26 November, 2020).

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GU ID E FOR AUTHOR S Further considerations • Manuscript has been ‘spell checked’ and ‘grammar checked’ • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa • All references and bibliography should conform to The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition). • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet) • Relevant declarations of interest have been made • Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed • Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements For further information, visit our Support Center. Reference

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Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) Footnote: refers only to additional explanation from the text, and not for indications to bibliography Examples: Reference to a journal publication: Weinstein, Joshua I. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 439–58. Reference to an online journal publication: Kossinets, Gueorgi, and Duncan J. Watts. “Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network.” American Journal of Sociology 115 (2009): 405–50. Accessed February 28, 2010. doi:10.1086/599247. Reference to a book: Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. The War: An Intimate History, 1941–1945. New York: Knopf, 2007. Reference to a chapter in an edited book: Kelly, John D. “Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War.” In Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, edited by John D. Kelly, Beatrice Jauregui, Sean T. Mitchell, and Jeremy Walton, 67–83. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Reference to a Book published electronically: Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Accessed February 28, 2010. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/. See more of the possible example in te original Book of Chicago Style, http://www.chicagomanualofstyle. org/tools_citationguide.html.

http://dialogo-conf.com

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GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

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The topic of this conference arose as a natural sequence to the melting pot, which tries to put forward new ideas in the name of progress but yet at the same time blurs differences. In this conference, we take a step backward, in that its aim is looking at the forces behind the material world and what animates it. We call it a ‘Spiritual’ approach, but at the same time, we recognize that this term is not used alike or even acknowledged by all traditions, including the scientific one. But we hope through endeavor we might learn more about a religious approach to life and also its corollary, the irreligious stance, and how these perspectives are related to the spiritual. In doing this, we hope our step backwards, will become a new step forward. Tina Lindhard (CICA international)

DIALOGO eISSN: 2393-1744, cdISSN: 2392-9928, printISSN: 2457-9297

ISSN-L 2392 – 9928

Online Journal of the Dialogue between Science and Theology Volume 7 Issue 2 The Virtual International Conference on Spirituality, Religion, Irreligion, and Society today. IVC2021SRIS