It occurred to me that historically there have been three ways to deal with the mysteries of life and the universe:

1. Religion. Degenerated into fundamentalisms of all kinds.
2. Science. Rife with savants idiots. Scientism as new religion.
   
3. Older than science, but usually numbered as three: Hermeticism, the Middle road to truth. Gnosis, Freemasonry, Rosicrucean orders, several theosophical societies, anthroposophical, etc. can be considered as Third way attempts to understand life and provide people with a philosophy of life. Unfortunately, dogmatism is strong with many members and leaders in such orders, not to mention the flood of questionable material from the last century in some of these movements. Plus a reluctancy to do research relating to their ideas.
   
4. A "Fourth Way" occurred later: Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and offspring ideas like Bennett's systematics. Little research taking place  as far as I know; Bennett's systematics provide some clues for developing a more coherent science (I mean all disciplines).

My own writings find their source in all of the four above (and in some of my own experiences). I think it is high time that a true syncretism (fusion of ideas into a larger framework) takes place. Especially ideas from the humanities and fields such as cybernetics should be incorporated into a philosophical model of the will, being and function of the human being and her/his place in society and cosmos. A good name for this endeavour is Fifth Way since it transcends and incorporates the preceding four ways and is not only inclusive of scientific findings but actually studies and refines academic disciplines (at least in principle). It is just in it's beginning stages and hopefully will attract many knowledgable and creative participants. The least it does is raising important questions about the human drama, the larger setting of life and cosmos, and providing some tentative answers that may very well help guide humanity into a sane course of life.

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Posted by m_euser at 4:12 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 20 July 2007 3:44 PM MEST

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Douglas Dewar has written extensively on evolution.

He asserts that Darwinists are wrong in many of their suppositions.
Although I think that selection is an established mechanism operative in  nature,  there are many other questions that  require serious consideration.
His posthumously published book The transformist illusion is well worth some study. See for yourself!

More texts on evolution can be found at: TUP online
Especially, see "Man in evolution" by Gottfried de Purucker.

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Posted by m_euser at 2:53 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 20 July 2007 3:43 PM MEST

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Just watched a documentary on waste = food. It seems that designer William McDonough and the chemist Michael Braungart are succeeding in implementing the idea of a wasteless economy. When one can reuse waste for 100%, or nearly so, then one has created a circular economy (eco-nomy).

Quite impressive, I have to say. They say that when 5% of consumers are motivated to buy products designed according to wasteless criteria a hugh shift will occur in world economy. China seems to embrace such an approach.

Good idea. This clearly shows how valuation (in this case the valuing and understanding the profitability of ecological design) impacts decision and act, resulting in change and fact.

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Posted by m_euser at 10:11 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 20 July 2007 3:41 PM MEST

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The four level model of the human being can give us some guidance as to the debate about Darwinian evolution versus Intelligent design.

In my ebook, first article, theosophy basics, part one, I indicate the real meaning of the word evolution. It is a movement from within to
manifest certain "inborn" principles. The idea of natural  selection has its place in esoteric philosophy. I refer to the book "Man in evolution" by Gottfried de Purucker. See www.theosociety.org in the online section. The idea that by total chance events DNA molecules get into existence is refuted by esoteric philosophy afaik. There are ordering factors at
work in the development of a cell. Some scientists have been making calculations as to the chance that a DNA molecule is formed. The chances that mechanical, molecular forces, etc. form this are astronomically small, let alone the formation of a cell. Not to talk about the emergence of human intelligence, hehe. Biologists will eventually come to the conclusion that they must research the organizational forces of life much deeper than has been done up to now. They begin to discover a thing here and there, like the biogenic radiation coming from a cell when it divides. The future will undoubtedly bring many a surprise to us in the realm of discoveries. There has just been a publication in Wageningen, in my country, about plants secreting certain substances that will attract enemies of leaf-eating organisms. The motto for the plant seems to be: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". It shows that plants are not so passive in behaviour as many biologists have thought to be.

To get back to the current scientific idea about evolution: there is not one level of evolution, but there are separate lines of evolution coming together in the human being. See for example my e-book, second article. The fourfold model may yield  more insight as to the relations of these lines of evolution to each other.

JG Bennett describes in this tome "Dramatic universe" how hidden factors have an influence on human evolution. See his fourth volume in that series.

Instead of trusting blind fundamentalists and deaf scientists and politicians who lead our society into disaster we better trust the wise people on our planet - if we can detect them! It will already make a difference when less money is spent on military issues and more on good education, health, etc. As to religion, the leaders must help develop their mythologies, stories, into viable directions that have something to say to well-educated people or risk becoming obsolete. I already discussed the failure of scientism in my ebook (see appendix about reductionism). Also, the splitting of ethical considerations off the scientific enterprise has been a very dangerous one. Think of the technological applications of science: nuclear energy, including mass destruction technology, gene manipulation, mass pollution, etc. and you get the picture.

 Ok, now let's return to the 4fold model. I found a couple of nice links as to the mind and it's functions. To my delight some psychologists have started thinking about the will, conation, and tried to incorporate a little of this factor into their models. See for example http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivation/motivate.html

There's much more to be found there as well, for example a feedback model that includes spiritual/soul as a factor:

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/feedback.html 

 See also my link to the insightful http://home.tiscali.nl/knmg0234/concentric.zip

Then I found a thorough consideration about the mind as producer of thought:  http://www.theos-talk.com/archives/200602/tt00098.html

That article brings also the factor of soul into consideration, which is a necessary thing for reflection and experience for people of our civilization. People are so out of touch with their feelings that our whole civilization often looks like a zombie or psycho movie.  Only an orientation on true spiritual values can lead our world into a healthy direction.

 I will come back to that article at some point, because it fits in nicely with some ideas of Arthur Young and also with  Jim Miller's Living Systems Theory. His subsystems are described in my article http://m_euser.tripod.com/science/examples.html

especially http://m_euser.tripod.com/science/table1cellLST.html 

and  http://m_euser.tripod.com/science/table2organismLST.html

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Posted by m_euser at 10:09 PM MEST

Updated: Monday, 23 July 2007 1:12 AM MEST

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Huston Smith presents a four level model of man and cosmos in his
book "Forgotten Truth".

In basic form it reads: body, mind ("psyche"), soul, spirit. I omit other names/terms from several religions, because that doesn't make things clearer.

This corresponds with the Kabbalistic Four Worlds: Action,
Formation, Creation and Emanation.  This four level model seems
to correspond to some degree  with Arthur Young's model. One has
to equate Level four with molecular action, level 3 with
organizational forces and blueprints, level 2 with soul,
beliefsystems, values, etc., and level 1 with spirit (autonomous
field as Vitvan would say).

The following theosophical correlation can be made to body, mind,
soul, spirit: body is the configuration of physical body plus
linga sarira plus prana; mind is kama-manas; soul is
buddhi-manas; spirit is atma-buddhi. All these terms are
explained in my free e-book. [link]

It gets really interesting when we ascribe the following aspects
to these four combinations:

Body as a configuration is the place where influences get combined.
It is a locus and means of action, execution of plans, etc.  

Mind or more precise: kama-manas (desire-mind) is sometimes described as lower psyche, roughly our personality. It is the locus of psychodynamic factors (impulses, desires, imagination, personal motivation, energy, etc.). Circulation of driving energy. It also has an aspect of planning and formation of images, I believe. Also: processing of ideas.

Buddhi-manas ("soul") has to do with true ethics and moral values (true to the  natural order as Vitvan would say). It can be seen as our inner  Higher Self, a source of conscience and advice. Our inner teacher or guardian angel and spiritual parent in the esoteric sense. I suppose that buddhi-manas can be equated with noetic mind. (Nous means spirit in Greek). A steering factor if we allow it to be!
Intuitions are impulses coming from this level, I believe. Our
thinking combines in this case as it were already existant ideas
into something new. New paradigms are sometimes formed in that way.

The Great Work consists of the transformation of our ordinary
nature (kama-manas)  into buddhi-manas (Christ-nature). It is an example of the interaction of the vertical dimension (spirit, already developed, the parent monad) with the horizontal dimension ("personality" and "I", opening to the inner world) to realize spirit, to develop its inner nature. This involves lower self and the parent higher self to "make a soul" - a transformation of the lower self.
This was the true subject of the Mystery Schools of old. See my e-book for the monad-model of man in the article theosophy basics, part two.

Atma-buddhi is one's spiritual monad (see e-book). For our
purposes we can see it as the Field we live in (our Father in
Heaven). The inspiration of this sublime being may be felt in
one's life occasionally. True inspiration translates in complete
new ideas about life. Obviously a rare event in history. Most, if
not all, of the founders of the great religions had some inspiration at
work in them, I think. But this is not the place to discuss that
at length.

There is a ton of teaching behind this. Much has been explained
in the writings of Dr. Gottfried de Purucker. See my e-book for
links to his work.


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Posted by m_euser at 11:32 PM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 5 July 2007 10:26 AM MEST

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The  manas and buddhi work each in a different way. While manas is said to be a centripetal or contractive force, buddhi is centrifugal or expansive. These energies or forces work together to produce form and consciousness/sensation together with the all penetrating rays/essence from atman. Buddhi, the Light, works in the developed manas (mind) as the Christ principle, the reconciliator. Focus on your essence and pretty few things can put you off balance. You transcend the working of opposites. Let those thought bubbles that used to worry you vanish into thin air.
Question: what is really important to you? Outer success? To what extent? Inner peace? Permanent matters or evanescent trifle?

  This all reminds me of Yin/Yang philosophy and something I read in an anthroposophical article on the web. The rythmical expansion and contraction factors are visibly at work in growing plants. Just follow the growth of the stem with its nodes and leafs and parts between. A nice exercise in phenomenology!

 In a sense I can follow the concentration of essence into a form. What to think of the packing of ideas into a symbol?

More info on mind and some Sanskrit terms can be found in this yogic model. 

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Posted by m_euser at 10:57 PM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007 10:33 PM MEST

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Bennett sees "eternal pattern" as a kind of time-dimension.

In the here-now there are several factors at work: from space-time limitations to will (hyparchic time: see a previous posting) to potentiality (patterns). While patterns have to do with potentialities ("eternal future"), form has to do with "eternal past" (realized potentialities).  I always think of a seed with it's DNA patterns which have the potentiality of a beautiful rose, horse, man, etc., but that pattern has to be realized or actualized in a specific form.  It is in another sense like a prototype that has to be refined to be useful on this planet. The main idea is that patterns can be unfolded and combined with substance of the environment in order to yield a substantial form.

The same usually happens with an intuition: the idea has to be developed into a workable system or method such as in science. The factors that contribute in this process can be many and varied. From insight (buddhi),  manas (thinking) to desire to accomplish something useful.

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Posted by m_euser at 3:43 PM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 14 June 2007 3:46 PM MEST

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It may be helpful to understand a little bit of the three terms atma, buddhi, and, manas.

Atma is the synthesis of all qualities, it is something that is sometimes called a ray from the divine monad (see my articles). It encompasses pattern, will, and a whole lot more.  Buddhi is called: "understanding", "compassion", "intuition", subjective side of will,  will in its second stage, to give some attributes/descriptions. It has to do with value, ethics, morality.

Atma is projected into existence through its energies (elementals) which I can't say much about at this point. Atma is sometimes equated with will. It may also be a pattern to be realized.  Buddhi is involuted as a kind of awareness, sentience, feeling. Some say that without the intervention of manas (interpreting mind) one can have a direct knowledge of the world as pure intuition. Quite possible, but not so easy, I suppose.

Manas is sometimes called "sensori-motor mind",  but that epithet can only apply to the lower manas (or brain-mind), I think. It is also seen as reimbodying Ego. It is a faculty that "makes forms" or images. It also has to do with knowledge and fact (lower manas, I think), as opposed to real understanding, insight (higher manas and a quality of buddhi together).

The point of all this is that manas and buddhi must work together (while atman penetrates everything) as image/form making and valuation work together. On an earthly level, humans hold beliefs and have some moral understanding/development which is all tied to more or less concrete images and concepts. That illustrates one level of working together.

These  three energies (faculties as well) work together and mirror themselves in the natural world as I said above. From simple beings to more complex beings that have an elaborate nervous system (which can be seen as an extension of manas in the biological world), a development from a simple atom to the most complex molecules and cells takes place in cycles of evolution.

The knower of the Vedantic energies will recognize a thing or two here, but that will be considered in another posting.

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Posted by m_euser at 4:40 PM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 9:59 PM MEST

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One regularly comes across considerations about duality in postings in groups. Typically one encounters the notion of Self vs. non-Self (or "I" vs. "other"). Now, I have been pondering about this a little and came to certain conclusions. First of all, the notion of a Self implies that there is something like a Self. This latter implies, however, a certain identity, a certain pattern of propensities, character, etc.
According to Bennett, a Self is built from (at least) three energies. This is something I want to have a look at later. The notion of three forces in balance is encountered in theosophical writings too, e.g. from De Purucker. The latter holds that for an impulse to arise (e.g. lightquanta) there must be a disturbance of the balance of forces. This is rather reminiscent of the Christian notion of the Trinity and also of Eastern Trinities that are said to send out a ray (or two rays)  in order to manifest. Very deep idea, but outside the scope of this current note.

My point is that duality presupposes some division of some medium, Element, etc. This division actually requires some boundary in order to make the division. That means that there are three terms to consider, not two. So, duality presupposes, or implies, a trinity.
The third factor is a relating term. In cells, it is the plasmamembrane. For the human organism, it is the skin on the physical level. On the psychological level, it is the aura, which surrounds the human being and has "pores" that allow energy exchange with the environment.

In real life the situation is far more complex than a three term system, of course. But even when we consider a simple system of two more or less equivalent elements the question of  the boundaries makes that we have to consider two times two terms plus the general medium from which the elements spring. Together that makes a fivefold of factors. Even that is not enough, because I have left out the pattern or identity of the element  besides the substance and concrete form (and it's organization). Also, I assumed here that the medium from which the elements derive their substance is a passive, undifferentiated one. In reality, it is capable of transmitting impulses/signals  to elements, which requires an internal structure in order to do so. So, higher terms are necessary to model real-life systems. See Dramatic Universe, Volume 1, chapter on "progression of the categories", for an overview of term-systems. Volume three gives some examples from the human world.
 
To summarize: duality implies trinity, or better stated: the notion of duality cannot be seperated from that of trinity. These are all simplifications as real-life systems consist of a multitude of elements, functions and relations.

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Posted by m_euser at 12:43 AM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:43 PM MEST

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You have seen me using Bennett's term "hyparxis" at some point in this blog. Now, hyparxis is "ableness to be", according to J.G. Bennett. In his book Dramatic Universe, volume 4, we can find a much clearer description of this term. We find him using terms as:

"decision", "commitment", to describe aspects of hyparchic future, present and past. He also  puts "interaction" and "ableness to be" on two ends of a line with "present moment" in the center.  
There are more factors active in one's awareness of the present moment, but I will give my own interpretation of this "hyparxis" term in relation to eternal patterns.

First of all, the capability to make a decision, freedom to choose between alternatives, is a wonderful capability of living beings. If you wonder about animals making decisions: yes, they can. Think for example of the choice they make between foods growing in the wild or in the meadow. Some animals are very choicy about the things they eat. The giant panda will only eat a certain kind of bamboo, for example.

But back to humans. Regarding decisions: one can only make decisions if there are alternatives to choose from. Even "fight or flight" response implies a choice between two options. But I am more concerned here with choice on a higher level of functioning, on the level of intellect. Having alternatives mean that one can perceive alternative courses of action, alternative goals, etc.  It implies that one can see patterns, possibilities, potentialities.

These latter terms belong to what Bennett calls "eternity". I may use this term too (as in "eternal patterns"), but the term pattern or possibility is descriptive enough for our purpose.
So, we have two distinct factors here that enter our experience: possibilities/patterns and decision making. The latter implies a power to make decisions and also a power to see alternatives and make evaluations. The latter implies clearly a power to interpret situations, elements, relations between elements, etc. Power is a kind of potency. So, another way of naming these two factors is to use the words "potentiality" and "potency".
For clarity's sake, however, I prefer the words "pattern" or "possibilities" on the one side and "decision" or even better: "will-process" on the other hand. The latter implies also "agency", an autonomous power to initiate an act.

The process of active will is very complex. It has been described by Assagioli in his book "Act  of will". I cannot deal with it here at length. Maybe in other posting. I will mention the steps
involved in the will-process, however.

Reversely translated from my copy of this book, we have:

1. Goal or purpose, based on valuation, motivation and intent.
2. Deliberation.
3. Choice and decision.
4. Reinforcement: command or fiat of the will.
5. Planning and elaboration of a program.
6. Steering of execution.


This is the process of will in it's complete and ideal form.

Remarks, based on Assagioli's treatment of the subject:

1. There is a goal to be reached. One has to clearly define a goal or purpose to be realized. The faculty of Imagination (ideation) is involved in this. This is not enough to get things going. An evaluation or valuation of the goal is necessary ending in a judgment. Then a motive must be generated that provides a drive and intent for one to realize this purpose/goal.
A motive is a dynamic thing. It  is generated by the values we ascribe to the goals we want to reach.

2. As there are many goals, we must choose between them. This establishing of a preference is the result of the function of deliberation where we have to investigate several goals, our skills to realize these goals, the consequences of our choice, social desirability, acceptability, etc.

Discrimination is necessary!

3. Deliberation should lead to choice and decision.
4. Then follows reinforcement of the choice and decision. This activates the creative and dynamic energies necessary to accomplish one's goal/purpose. Compare this with Bennett's "commitments".

5. Planning and a program are needed. Methods of execution come into play as are considerations of time, circumstances , conditions.

6. At last there is the steering of the execution.



Will is like a director of a play. It is the supervisor of the whole process.
It looks to me that the whole gamut of human functions is concerned in this process: from will to imagination to motivation to discrimination to planning down to the physical execution
(sensori-motor function). QUite impressive! The physical execution itself is not a function of will, but the steering of that part is.


So, hyparxis is a very wide term. I think I prefer the term will-process as it clarefies much better what's going on (especially as elucidated by Assagioli). Eternal patterns play a role in the will-process as these patterns have to do with the possibilities/goals from which to choose.

This treatment also reveals that there are several energies playing a role in the will-process.

Potentially we are speaking of all the cosmic energies (E1 to E4 in Bennett's system), where the higher energies are working in "transcendent will" (let's say, super-spiritual will), down to,
say, sensitivity/vitality as interface with the biological world.

I already showed that this process needs at least a tetrad to describe important aspects, such as goal vs ground, skills vs deliberation/decision making. See my article on the tetrad. (http://m_euser.tripod.com/newvisiontetrad.pdf)
Higher order systems are needed to express significance, structure, etc., but these can be found in Dramatic Universe, volume 3.

Summarizing, we see that patterns and will have to work together in a complicated process where all human faculties have their role. There remains a ton to be researched. From another point of view for example, I see the six main energies (shaktis) from Vedantic lore playing a role in this
will-process, scaled down from cosmic to human proportion. Another question pertains to the working of Bennett's energies (E1 to E12). It looks now to me that he omitted a number of
important points/elements/elementals in his system. Combinations of energies or "principles" is another thing to have a look at.
But all that is material for other postings at some other time.

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Posted by m_euser at 5:06 PM MEST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:45 PM MEST

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