Materialist Delusion: “All Spirituality is Intangible and beyond the senses” – Critique endorsed by 4 scholars including Dr H. Koenig & Dr. P Wong
Abstract: “When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead and the White Knight is talking backwards!” (White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane written by Grace Slick in late 1965)
This paper is a critique of the materialist method, in particular the academic materialist model that claims that “all spirituality is unreal” because it is “intangible and beyond the senses.” That is a fallacy, specifically the Definist Fallacy. If you consider eh idea off “death” – which is intangible and beyond the senses” – then following the materialist argument “Death becomes a figment of your imagination” – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of very tangible types of spirituality such as the spirituality of compassion, grieving, and musical spirituality. The original 2018 critique was endorsed by four prominent scholars including world famous scholars, Dr. Harold Koenig and Dr Paul Wong. The “intangible” materialist argument also gave birth to the “supernatural” concept – which is by definition beyond the scope of scientific inquiry and thus completely lacks any real-world context-evidence – or actualities – which is a prerequisite for any valid science (Kant, Iain McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif, Kenneth Gergen). On top of that the “supernatural” concept is a gross oversimplification. If there is one thing neuroscience has demonstrated it is the complex intricate interconnections of processes in the human brain. At the end, there is a categorization of different types of spirituality, such as compassion spirituality, musical spirituality, spiritual healing in grief, child spirituality, artistic spirituality, poetry, and prophecy, among others. In conclusion, it appears readily apparent that the materialist method of dismissing spirituality as unreal due to its intangibility is a damaging fallacy that ignores the complexity of human experience and the tangible manifestations of spirituality.
Keywords: fallacy, Definist Fallacy, Materialist, ideology, spirituality, tangible spirituality, compassion, musical spirituality, prosocial values, supernatural, divine, psychic, spiritual-psychic, Rene Guenon, Iain McGilChrist, Keneth Gergen, relational spirituality, Davis Hay, Virgilio Enriquez, denial of supra-individual, materialism restricts and limits analyses, materialist methods, quantification, research of quality factors, divine as tangible
Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! — Setting the Stage & Perspective on Social Science
Philo of Alexandria provides an excellent insight into the limits of consciousness. He states “The mind which is in each of us is able to comprehend all other things, but has not the capability of understanding itself. For as the eye sees all other things, but cannot see itself, so also the mind perceives the nature of other things but cannot understand itself.” ~ It stands to reason that human consciousness can only understand and analyze itself via a “frame of reference’ – or mindset – from within human consciousness – and several scholars have observed that the only way to evaluate human consciousness is by using a mirror – in one sense or another. The “materialist view that quantification equates to science and materialism is objective is false. Iain McGilChrist observes that it is the opposite and that the materialist “rigid adherence to arbitrary quantification” “limits and restricts” possible analyses. Half of human consciousness isn’t quantifiable: art, music, dreams, creato9vioty, imagination, , as well as symbolism which is complex and outside the scope of strict quantification – not to mention “death”. Rene Guenon is a bit more focused in stating that the materialist ideology is the “denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order” (p.90) Guenon’s assessment appears to be generally correct. E Halas, R. May, as well as Mustafa Emirbayer (to an extent) indicate symbolism was sidelined and marginalized. D Hay, K Gergen, and V. Enriquez emphasize that the western “rational Individualism norm has morphed into a form of extreme individualism. That is because “social consciousness” is a “supra-individual” concept. In Wikipedia, there are only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being to Karl Marx the creator of Marxism and Communism. Karl Mannheim, (1893 – 1947), a founding father of sociology stated that “we must realize once and for all that the meanings which make up our world are simply an historically determined and continuously developing structure in which man develops, and are in no sense absolute” (Mullins). Besides Mannheim, Guenon, and McGilChrist, there are a number of other critics of materialism including Talcott Parson, Rupert Sheldrake, Jeremiah Reyes, and Arran Gare
Guenon states materialism specifically “denies” spirituality because spiritual “authority is “supra-individual in nature, The “materialist model” of spirituality is “All spirituality is unreal” – based on the materialist maxim that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses” as explained by William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen. First, that is a fallacy – the Definist Fallacy to be exact. For instance, take the concept of “Death”. Death, of course is “intangible and beyond the senses, Yet, following the materialist argument Death becomes a figment of your imagination – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of “tangible” types of spirituality such as compassion, grieving, musical spirituality, art and so on. A derivative of the materialist maxim is the concept of the “supernatural” – which by definition is outside the scope of science and thus lacks any real-world context-evidence which is necessary for a valid scientific theory according to Kant, McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif) – which makes the “supernatural” an artificial abstraction which is scientifically and academically worthless. My argument is that in light of the “selective attention” process which is acknowledged as a critical process in the human mind – re-directs and mis-directs attention from functional spirituality to an empty and meaningless artificial abstraction.
Long ago Aristotle described the scientific process as a 4 step process: 1. Gather the facts 2. Categorize the evidence into types 3. Analyze the evidence 4. Draw conclusions. It is a bit mindboggling that the mistake materialists made was so simple and fundamental. Materialists failed to distinguish between “tangible” and “intangible” – labeling all spirituality as “intangible” and “supernatural”. There are a number of very “tangible” types of spirituality! 1. Spirituality of Compassion (Sprecher, S, B Fehr 2005; Saslow, Laura Rose 2011) 2. Musical Spirituality: 3. Spiritual Healing in Grieving 4. Children’s Spirituality 5. Artistic Spirituality 6. Poets and Prophecy 7. Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence 8. divinity in nature – earth as a living force 9. Spirituality and Autism 10. pro-social norms. Another major methodology flaw is that materialists failed to distinguish bet6ween the “divine” and the supernatural. There is a world of difference between “divine” and “supernatural”. For instance, Celtic Spirituality and Celtic Catholicism holds “A deep reverence for nature is a central conviction in Celtic Spirituality. Creation is revelation. God’s presence permeates all of creation. Every single piece of it. Celtic Spirituality holds that the Divine is incarnate in all of creation.” In the context of beliefs, “divinity” would also be a “tangible” type of spirituality.
Social consciousness can be difficult to understand. If ever there was a social-political movement that centered on thoughts and ideas, the Enlightenment would be it. The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, which began in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries were an intellectual and philosophical force created by social-political-religious ideas that dominated the world of ideas in Europe and generated major changes in the culture of Western Civilization. Furthermore, human consciousness has developed and ‘evolved’ through the various stages in human history- from the stone age to the iron age to moder industrial civilization – so. It would appear readily apparent that an influential factor in understanding human consciousness would be “Consciousness as drive and force”! That would be especially relevant in context of cross-cultural understanding such as Filipino values like Bayanihan, Kapwa, loob. In the essay, “Myths as Symbolic Maps of Social-Moral Order”, I stress the historical connection and correlation between spiritual beliefs and social-moral order – which supports Emile Durkheim’s view of religion as the foundation of morality – that religious experiences generate shared values and beliefs that bind society together. There is a major point made by Saslow that there is a difference between spiritual processes and religiosity processes – and that spiritual processes are more closely connected with prosocial values such as compassion. Many scholars who are anti-religious lump spirituality in with religiosity and throw spirituality away – when it appears readily apparent that spirituality is closely correlated with prosocial values such as compassion and community.
Behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration of this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion! Einstein
Eugene Wigner on quantum physics: “It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness.”
“Divine good is not something apart from our nature, and is not removed far away from those who have the will to seek it; it is in fact within each of us, ignored indeed, and unnoticed!” – St Gregory of Nyssa
Critique of Materialist Fallacies and Delusional Thinking endorsed by four prominent psychologists-researchers – Materialist Spirituality Model: Spirituality is intangible, beyond the senses. and unreal “When logic and proportion Have fallen sloppy dead and the White Knight is talking backwards!”[1] (Jefferson Airplane)
Endorsed and Peer Reviewed (since 2018 minimally 10,000 views and zero criticisms) Critique of Materialist Methods – specifically the Academic Materialist Model that “All spirituality is unreal” – which is based on the argument that all “spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” Which is a fallacy-maladaptive stereotype, specifically the Definist Fallacy. Below are the scholars who endorsed the critique.
1. Dr. Paul Wong, Professor Emeritus of Trent University edited two large volumes of The Human Quest for Meaning (which I personally found extremely helpful) and authored over 300 publications on topics stated about this essay, “Your letter to a congressman needs to be published somewhere.!”[2]
2. Dr. Harold Koenig, a medical doctor-psychiatrist, a well published and very well-known author and researcher stated about this article: “Charlie – makes perfect sense to me, and very nice letter right on target! HK Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Associate Professor of Medicine Duke University Medical Center.
3. Dr. Stephen Farra: Columbia International University Emeritus, a Christian psychologist and director of the Psychology Program at Columbia International University i, stated unequivocally that the “Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all
4. Stefan Schindler, an award-winning author, and retired psychology-philosophy professor responded to my question: “Would you say the argument about the “methodological flaw” is correct” – stating, “Yes, correct!”
Materialist Maxim: spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses.”
William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen state, “A philosophical basis for this perspective is materialism, the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.”[3] “Definist Fallacies” occur when someone unfairly defines a term so that a controversial position is made easier to defend – like defining spirituality as “intangible” – which is a “loaded term.” The Definist Fallacy is the same as the same as the “Persuasive Definition.”[4] (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) As one scholar noted “breath” is beyond the senses, but if you stop breathing, you are dead! So, being beyond the senses does NOT mean it is valueless!
When Death becomes a Figment of Your Imagination!
Not all that long ago, I happened to be talking with a Filipina college student at a street restaurant in General Santos, Philippines. I went over the materialist argument as explained by Miller & Thompson in the NIH article as “the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” Since Filipinas have a reputation for being spiritual, I was a bit surprised when the Filipina college student/graduate agreed with the argument that spirituality is unreal because it is “intangible’.
So, I asked her to consider – for a moment – the concept of “death!” I emphasized that out that – of all things – “death” is “intangible and beyond the senses” and way beyond quantification. Then I pointed out that if you then follow the logic and reasoning of the materialist argument, “Death – then – becomes a “figment of her imagination and superstitious nonsense.” She paused for a second, then agreed with my reasoning – which was a major success for me.
Of course, the idea of death being a “figment of your imagination and unreal” is totally absurd. But then again, the statement that “all spirituality is unreal” is equally absurd and wrong on several levels. First it is a fallacy – a “delusion”! Secondly there are a number of very “tangible” types of spirituality: Spirituality of Compassion[5], Musical Spirituality[6], Spiritual Experiences and Healing in Grieving[7], Children’s Spirituality[8], Artistic Spirituality[9], Poetry and Prophecy[10], Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence[11], Spirituality in nature as a living force, and Autistic spirituality[12]
Spiritual Poison: Academic Maladaptive Stereotype:
Dr Stephen Farra On the subject of the materialist Definist – maladaptive stereotype “All spirituality is unreal”! Dr Stephen Farra, wrote: “Charles, I strongly agree that the Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all! Frankl writes about how a closed Naturalism leads to a suffocating Reductionism, which leads to a mental and emotional Nihilism and the kind of Moral Corruption he experienced in Auschwitz and Dachau……” “Spiritual Poison” may be an understatement. Materialist norms convey and teach Delusional Thinking.
Giant Cosmic Parrots – a Mindset Produced by the Materialist Ideology and Fallacy that all “Spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” And thus “Unreal!”
It is clear the Definist Fallacy is a major underlying cause for ignorant comments by college graduates – such as these comments I heard on FB “science” groups: “mental illness,” “Santa Claus”, “fairies,” and so on. The most obnoxious comment was by a neuroscientist who stated on my which was a fairly generic post about spirituality in which I didn’t even mention spiritual-psychic experiences – “please keep the religious drivel to religious channels, this is science and science by its very nature only deals with the material – what can be observed and measured. It serves no practical use of time to hypothesize whether giant cosmic parrots travelling from higher dimensions are responsible for anything because unless one flies into our view there’s no way to prove it.”
As Justice Rehnquist states, “It is not true if the major premise is not true!”[13]
The Materialist Supernatural Swindle
Definitions of the “Supernatural” as outside the scope of science –
- Mirriam-Webster
- departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature
- attributed to an invisible agent (such as a ghost or spirit)
- “Dictionary” Definition: “of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.”
The Materialist Catch 22
I was “told” several times in psychology FB groups that in order to have spiritual and religious beliefs I first need to prove “God” However, ss St Gregory of Nyssa, St Augustine, and several other Christian leaders observe, God is beyond words and beyond comprehension. “According to the true words of the Lord [Mt 5.8], the pure of heart will see God. They will receive as much as their minds can comprehend. However, the unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all comprehension.”[14] ((p.161 Song of songs) Prove the unprovable! Talk about catch 22
Actualities of Spirituality and Real-World Context-Evidence – Consensus that Real-World context-evidence is a prerequisite for any valid scientific theory.
- Immanuel Kant: “If a concept lacks reference to any object of possible experience, Kant argues, it “has no meaning and is completely lacking in content”[15]
- Iain McGilChrist: “Thinking is always thinking, but philosophical thinking is, upon the whole, at the extreme end of the scale of distance from the active urgency of concrete situations. It is because of this fact that neglect of context is the besetting fallacy of philosophical thought … I should venture to assert that the most pervasive fallacy of philosophic thinking goes back to neglect of context … neglect of context is the greatest single disaster which philosophic thinking can incur.” [16]
- Muzafer Sherif: “Sherif emphasizes that real world contexts are important, even if regarded as “messy” compared to controlled lab experiments.” “A psychological construct—if it is to prove valid and adequate—must be as valid and adequate in handling the stuff of ordinary human affairs as in handling the controlled variables of the laboratory experiment.”[17]
- “Proper knowledge maps or mirrors the actualities of the real world.”[18] K Gergen
Conclusion: The Supernatural Concept” has no real-world context-evidence or actualities and so is an artificial abstraction which is unscientific and utterly meaningless – and misdirects peoples attention from functional and fruitful – to empty meaninglessness.
The “Supernatural” Concept has Zero Real World Context evidence
The Supernatural concept is in reality a derivative of the underlying materialist argument that “spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses”! Besides being a fallacy, it is also untrue because there are a number of tangible types of spirituality. The Supernatural Concept has ZERO Real-World Context-evidence. The Supernatural, besides having no real-world context-evidence is also a Gross Oversimplification vs the Complexity of interconnections in the human brain
Besides having no real-world context-evidence, another methodology issue with the concept is that it is a gross oversimplification. Neuroscience research consistently demonstrates that the brain is intimately interconnected and phenomena such as morals or music have important interconnections with many regions of the brain and not the product of an isolated region solely responsible for behaviors. As Durkheim observed spiritual and religious beliefs are the genesis of morality in human evolution. [19]
Complexity of Interconnections of the Human Brain
Funk and Gazzanigna: “Morality is a set of complex emotional and cognitive processes that is reflected across many brain domains. Some of them are recurrently found to be indispensable in order to emit a moral judgment, but none of them is uniquely related to morality…………Some of the emotions processed are more central to morality than others, but all emotions contribute to moral judgment given specific contextual situations…..The neural circuits of brain regions implicated in morality overlap with those that regulate other behavioral processes, suggesting that there is probably no undiscovered neural substrate that uniquely supports moral cognition.”[20] Brain Architecture of human morality, Funk and Gazzanigna Current opinion in Neurobiology 2009 19:678-681)
Music is interconnected with singing, language and speech, as well as dancing – overlapping other processes. “Music is a core human experience and generative processes reflect cognitive capabilities. Music is often functional because it is something that can promote human well-being by facilitating human contact, human meaning, and human imagination of possibilities, tying it to our social instincts. Music cuts across diverse cognitive capabilities and resources, including numeracy, language, and space perception. In the same way, music intersects with cultural boundaries, facilitating our “social self” by linking our shared experiences and intentions.”[21] (The evolution of music and human social capability Jay Schulkin, medical researcher, Greta B. Raglan Front Neurosci. 2014; 8: 292.)
“Supernatural” as an Artificial Abstraction-Distraction
Is God Supernatural
When I asked my partner, who is a Filipina Catholic, if “God is supernatural?” She replied, “Yes.” I pointed out that from my research Jesus Christ never once used the word “supernatural” in the gospels and the concept of the holy Spirit in no way matches the materialist concept of the “Supernatural” – for example, Spirit and Truth – John 4:23-24; Spirit is Truth – John 5:6; or guidance – Luke 1:27. Then there are gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Catholic tradition, the seven gifts are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Lastly, he fruits of the Holy Spirit are nine virtues that are believed to be the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence in a believer’s life, as described in Galatians 5:22-23. These fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Even worst, the supernatural comes with baggage – such as powers, superstitious nonsense, magic, mental illness. Dr Koenig highlights the fact that historically psychiatry at times views transcendental spiritual experiences as “psychosis!” I felt good that my partner strongly agrees with my point – plus several of my other spiritual and Christian connections definitely agree that is a valid point.
Selective Attention Factor
Unfortunately, materialists have successfully pigeonholed and pegged ‘all spirituality as unreal and superstitious nonsense! In dictionaries Prophecy, myths, as well as some religious beliefs are designated as “supernatural”! It is my view that the materialist “supernatural” and “intangible and beyond the senses” norms-stereotypes have redirected attention of believers and nonbelievers alike from productive and fruitful focus to a focus to a meaningless and empty artificial abstraction.
David DiSalvo states, “Selective attention,” also called “selectivity bias”—the tendency to orient oneself toward and process information from only one part of our environment to the exclusion of other parts, no matter how obvious those parts may be.” There is a consensus that “selective attention” is absolutely pivotal in human consciousness. Without doubt the supernatural maladaptive stereotype has distorted the thinking of millions of people. That maladaptive stereotype is prevalent in Western culture and academia and is found in many definitions of prophecy and myths – despite being meaningless and unscientific. It is readily apparent that the materialist maladaptive stereotype has successfully redirected the “attention” of millions of people and focused their attention to a meaningless, empty abstraction – a major and very destructive maladaptive stereotype! [22]
From a Christian framework – the “supernatural distracts from worshipping in “spirit and truth” – 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” To my knowledge, that is the only passage in which Christ mandates the form of worship.
The “Supernatural” is a Meaningless Artificial Abstraction: After tens of thousands of years of spiritual and religious beliefs, how did the designation of spirituality as “totally unreal” come about? As Nobel prize winning physicist, Brian Josephson observed, academics are largely fixated with the “supernatural” as opposed to the functionality and fruitfulness of spiritual beliefs. “The supernatural” concept derives from the materialist concept that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses – except worse in a way because – by definition – the “supernatural” is outside the scope of science. The Definition of supernatural in “Dictionary” is “of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.” From my research Jesus Christ never once used thew word “supernatural” and the supernatural bears no resemblance to the Holy Spirit or the idea of “God” in the Old or New Testament. It is a bit mindboggling that materialists – using this term – managed to peg or pigeonhole spirituality as supernatural and so meaningless and superstitious nonsense – and other-worldly – disconnecting spirituality from any “real world context-evidence. [23]
“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.”[24] – Saint Gregory of Nyssa
A very destructive Maladaptive stereotype
It is my view that the materialist “supernatural” and “intangible and beyond the senses” norms-stereotypes have redirected attention form productive and fruitful focus to a focus on a meaningless and empty artificial abstraction. Without doubt the supernatural maladaptive stereotype has distorted the thinking of millions of people. That maladaptive stereotype is prevalent in Western culture and academia and is found in many definitions of prophecy and myths – despite being meaningless and unscientific. It is readily apparent that the materialist maladaptive stereotype has successfully redirected the “attention” of millions of people and focused their attention to a meaningless, empty abstraction – a major and very destructive maladaptive stereotype! From a Christian framework – the “supernatural distracts form worshipping in “spirit and truth” – John 23-24 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” To my knowledge, that is the only passage in which Christ mandates the form of worship.
“the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order” – Rene Guenon
Rene Guenon & the materialist problem: “Rationalism in all its forms is essentially defined by a belief in the supremacy of reason, proclaimed as a veritable ‘dogma’, and implying the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order, notably of pure intellectual intuition, and this carries with it logically the exclusion of all true metaphysical knowledge….[and] the rejection of all spiritual authority, rationalism and individualism are thus so closely linked together that they are usually confused,”[25] (p.90)
Guenon’s assessment is correct. Kenneth Gergen, David Hay and Virgilio Enriquez agree that Rational Individualism (a political ideal) has morphed (from the Age of Reason to the Materialist Age) into a form of extreme individualism. Wikipedia has only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being Karl Marx. In western academia, the Rational Individualism norm holds sway. As a point of information, the English language has no words for the Filipino words, Bayanihan (helping others in a community context), Kapwa (shared identity), or loob (relational will – equality)
Alfred Rupert Sheldrake, author, and biochemist at Cambridge University concludes: “The atheist ideology found a powerful ally in materialist science, which by the end of the nineteenth century, portrayed a purposeless, unconscious, mechanical universe where humans, like all life, had evolved without purpose or guidance.”[26] (p.155)
Spiritual Actualities (compassion, grieving, music, art) vs a Meaningless Artificial Abstraction – the “Supernatural”!!!
“Proper knowledge maps actualities of the real world!”[27] – K Gergen
“Spirituality is a natural human predisposition! It is more primal than institutional religion and concerns a person’s sense of connectedness with self, others, and the world (or cosmos)!”[28] K Adams & B Hyde
Genetics of Spirituality
Tim Spector, in the article, What Twins Reveal About the Science of Faith (Popular Science, August 8, 2013) states, “They [the researchers] estimated the heritability of spirituality to be around 40 to 50 percent, which is quite high considering how tricky it is to measure.” Even a precursory overview of spirituality in art, music, and mythology reveals that these spiritual processes have been intimately interconnected with processes heavily implicated in creativity, imagination, life-drive, as well as spiritual symbols and symbolism.[29]
Categorization of spiritual actualities-types of spirituality
- Spirituality of Compassion (Sprecher, S, B Fehr 2005; Saslow, Laura Rose 2011) [30]
- Musical Spirituality (Schulkin, Jay, Greta B. Raglan. 2014; Cross, Ian.2003): [31]
- Spiritual Healing in Grieving Easterling, L, Sewell, K. Gamino A., Stirman, L 2000 Gillies, James, and R. A. Neimeyer. 2006: Parker, Julie S. 2005, Kiliánová, Gabriela. 2010) [32]
- Children’s Spirituality (Hyde, Brendan 2008; Thomas, Donna.2022)[33]
- Artistic Spirituality (Johnston, Robert K. 2013. Langer, Susanne K 1966)[34]
- Poetry and Prophecy (Heschel, Abraham Joshua. 1954).[35]
- Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence (Hernani, Emmanuel Villoria, Ma Rosita Ampoyas Hernani, and Delmo Amfan Dulay. 2021)[36]
- Spiritual beliefs in nature – earth as a living force
- Spirituality and Autism (Visuri, Ingela. 2019)[37]
- pro-social norms
- Prevalence of Spiritual-Psychic Experiences The religious scholar, Fraser Watts, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications, points out that surveys show that roughly 1/3 of people report having spiritual experiences [38](p. 63). Park and Paloutzian report that somewhere between 1/3 to half of people report spiritual-psychic experiences depending on the questions asked. In one study, atheists and agnostics compromised 24% of the people surveyed who had transcendental spiritual experiences[39]. That should be no surprise since human beings have believed in spirit and spirits for tens of thousands of years! So unconscious spiritual symbolism would without doubt be genetically inherited to some extent or another. The fact that atheists have spiritual-psychic experiences would seem a strong argument that spiritual symbolism is a reality in the unconscious. Bargh, the unconscious researcher did emphasize that the conscious is largely separate and distinct from the unconscious.[40] As William James observed – and modern neuroscience confirmed – people “filter” information as part of the selective attention process. It is true that spirituality and life – are what you make of them![41]
Resources
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[4] Dowden, Bradley. n.d. “Fallacies.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[5] Sprecher, Susan, and Beverley Fehr. “Compassionate love for close others and humanity.” Journal of social and personal relationships 22, no. 5 (2005): 629-651
[6] Schulkin, Jay, and Greta B. Raglan. “The evolution of music and human social capability.” Frontiers in neuroscience 8 (2014): 292.
[7] Easterling, Larry W., Kenneth W. Sewell, Louis A. Gamino, and Linda S. Stirman. “Spiritual experience, church attendance, and bereavement.” Journal of Pastoral Care 54, no. 3 (2000): 263-275.
[8] Adams, Kate, and Brendan Hyde. “Children’s grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.” Dreaming 18, no. 1 (2008): 58.
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[10] Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Prophets: Two Volumes in One. Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.
[11] Hernani, Emmanuel Villoria, Ma Rosita Ampoyas Hernani, and Delmo Amfan Dulay. “Dancing With the Dreamweavers: A Narrative Discourse of the T’bolis of the Southern Philippines.” In Indigenous research of land, self, and spirit, pp. 200-214. IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2021.
[12] Visuri, Ingela. “Varieties of supernatural experience: The case of high-functioning autism.” PhD diss., Södertörns högskola, 2019.
[13] McClurg, Andrew Jay. “Logical fallacies and the Supreme Court: A critical examination of Justice Rehnquist’s decisions in criminal procedure cases.” U. Colo. L. Rev. 59 (1988): 741.
[14] NYSSA, GREGORY OF. “HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS.”
[15] Kant, Immanuel. Critique of pure reason. Vol. 6. Minerva Heritage Press, 2024.
[16] McGilchrist, Iain. The master and his emissary: The divided brain and the making of the western world. Yale University Press, 2019.
[17] Sherif, Muzafer, and Hadley Cantril. “The psychology of’attitudes’: Part I.” Psychological Review 52, no. 6 (1945): 295.
[18] Gergen, Kenneth J. Realities and relationships: Soundings in social construction. Harvard university press, 2009.
[19] Funk, Chadd M., and Michael S. Gazzaniga. “The functional brain architecture of human morality.” Current opinion in neurobiology 19, no. 6 (2009): 678-681.
[20] Funk, Chadd M., and Michael S. Gazzaniga. “The functional brain architecture of human morality.” Current opinion in neurobiology 19, no. 6 (2009): 678-681.
[21] Schulkin, Jay, and Greta B. Raglan. “The evolution of music and human social capability.” Frontiers in neuroscience 8 (2014): 292.
[22] DiSalvo, David. 2013. “Your Brain Sees Even When You Don’t.” Forbes, June 23, 2013.
[23] Josephson, Brian D. “Religion in the genes.” Nature 362, no. 6421 (1993): 583-583.
[24] NYSSA, GREGORY OF. “HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS.”
[25] Guenon, Rene. “A Material Civilization.” The Betrayal of Tradition; Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity, edited by John Herlihy. world Wisdom inc (2005).
[26] Sheldrake, Rupert. “Setting science free from materialism.” Explore 9, no. 4 (2013): 211-218.
[27] Gergen, Kenneth J. Realities and relationships: Soundings in social construction. Harvard university press, 2009.
[28] Adams, Kate, and Brendan Hyde. “Children’s grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.” Dreaming 18, no. 1 (2008): 58.
[29] Spector, Tim. 2013. “What Twins Reveal About the Science of Faith.” Popular Science. August 9, 2013.
[30] Sprecher, Susan, and Beverley Fehr. “Compassionate love for close others and humanity.” Journal of social and personal relationships 22, no. 5 (2005): 629-651
[31] Schulkin, Jay, and Greta B. Raglan. “The evolution of music and human social capability.” Frontiers in neuroscience 8 (2014): 292.
[32] Easterling, Larry W., Kenneth W. Sewell, Louis A. Gamino, and Linda S. Stirman. “Spiritual experience, church attendance, and bereavement.” Journal of Pastoral Care 54, no. 3 (2000): 263-275.
[33] Adams, Kate, and Brendan Hyde. “Children’s grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.” Dreaming 18, no. 1 (2008): 58.
[34] Johnston, Robert K. “Art and the Spiritual.” In Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World: Loosing the Spirits, pp. 85-96. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2013.
[35] Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Prophets: Two Volumes in One. Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.
[36] Hernani, Emmanuel Villoria, Ma Rosita Ampoyas Hernani, and Delmo Amfan Dulay. “Dancing With the Dreamweavers: A Narrative Discourse of the T’bolis of the Southern Philippines.” In Indigenous research of land, self, and spirit, pp. 200-214. IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2021.
[37] Visuri, Ingela. “Varieties of supernatural experience: The case of high-functioning autism.” PhD diss., Södertörns högskola, 2019.
[38] Wheeler, Rachel. “Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications by Fraser Watts.” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 18, no. 1 (2018): 112-113.p.63
[39] Paloutzian, Raymond F., and Crystal L. Park, eds. Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. Guilford Publications, 2014, p.67 .
[40] Bargh, John. Before you know it: The unconscious reasons we do what we do. Simon and Schuster, 2017
[41] Williams, James. “Varieties of religious experience.” New York: The New American Library (1902).
Brief Critique of Materialist Fallacy-Delusion, “Spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” and unreal endorsed by 4 prominent scholars + the Divine is “tangible”
Abstract: “When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead and the White Knight is talking backwards!” (White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane written by by Grace Slick in late 1965)
This paper is a critique of the materialist method, in particular the academic materialist model that claims that “all spirituality is unreal” because it is “intangible and beyond the senses.” That is a fallacy, specifically the Definist Fallacy. If you consider eh idea off “death” – which is intangible and beyond the senses” – then following the materialist argument “Death becomes a figment of your imagination” – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of very tangible types of spirituality such as the spirituality of compassion, grieving, and musical spirituality. The original 2018 critique was endorsed by four prominent scholars including world famous scholars, Dr. Harold Koenig and Dr Paul Wong. The “intangible” materialist argument also gave birth to the “supernatural” concept – which is by definition beyond the scope of scientific inquiry and thus completely lacks any real-world context-evidence – or actualities – which is a prerequisite for any valid science (Kant, Iain McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif, Kenneth Gergen). On top of that the “supernatural” concept is a gross oversimplification. If there is one thing neuroscience has demonstrated it is the complex intricate interconnections of processes in the human brain. At the end, there is a categorization of different types of spirituality, such as compassion spirituality, musical spirituality, spiritual healing in grief, child spirituality, artistic spirituality, poetry, and prophecy, among others. In conclusion, it appears readily apparent that the materialist method of dismissing spirituality as unreal due to its intangibility is a damaging fallacy that ignores the complexity of human experience and the tangible manifestations of spirituality.
Keywords: fallacy, Definist Fallacy, Materialist, ideology, spirituality, tangible spirituality, compassion, musical spirituality, prosocial values, supernatural, divine, psychic, spiritual-psychic, Rene Guenon, Iain McGilChrist, Keneth Gergen, relational spirituality, Davis Hay, Virgilio Enriquez, denial of supra-individual, materialism restricts and limits analyses, materialist methods, quantification, research of quality factors, divine as tangible
Life, creation and consciousness – “force beyond anything that we can comprehend”!! — Setting the Stage & Perspective on Social Science
Philo of Alexandria provides an excellent insight into the limits of consciousness. He states “The mind which is in each of us is able to comprehend all other things, but has not the capability of understanding itself. For as the eye sees all other things, but cannot see itself, so also the mind perceives the nature of other things but cannot understand itself.” ~ It stands to reason that human consciousness can only understand and analyze itself via a “frame of reference’ – or mindset – from within human consciousness – and several scholars have observed that the only way to evaluate human consciousness is by using a mirror – in one sense or another. The “materialist view that quantification equates to science and materialism is objective is false. Iain McGilChrist observes that it is the opposite and that the materialist “rigid adherence to arbitrary quantification” “limits and restricts” possible analyses. Half of human consciousness isn’t quantifiable: art, music, dreams, creato9vioty, imagination, , as well as symbolism which is complex and outside the scope of strict quantification – not to mention “death”. Rene Guenon is a bit more focused in stating that the materialist ideology is the “denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order” (p.90) Guenon’s assessment appears to be generally correct. E Halas, R. May, as well as Mustafa Emirbayer (to an extent) indicate symbolism was sidelined and marginalized. D Hay, K Gergen, and V. Enriquez emphasize that the western “rational Individualism norm has morphed into a form of extreme individualism. That is because “social consciousness” is a “supra-individual” concept. In Wikipedia, there are only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being to Karl Marx the creator of Marxism and Communism. Karl Mannheim, (1893 – 1947), a founding father of sociology stated that “we must realize once and for all that the meanings which make up our world are simply an historically determined and continuously developing structure in which man develops, and are in no sense absolute” (Mullins). Besides Mannheim, Guenon, and McGilChrist, there are a number of other critics of materialism including Talcott Parson, Rupert Sheldrake, Jeremiah Reyes, and Arran Gare
Guenon states materialism specifically “denies” spirituality because spiritual “authority is “supra-individual in nature, The “materialist model” of spirituality is “All spirituality is unreal” – based on the materialist maxim that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses” as explained by William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen. First, that is a fallacy – the Definist Fallacy to be exact. For instance, take the concept of “Death”. Death, of course is “intangible and beyond the senses, Yet, following the materialist argument Death becomes a figment of your imagination – which is absurd of course. Furthermore, there are a number of “tangible” types of spirituality such as compassion, grieving, musical spirituality, art and so on. A derivative of the materialist maxim is the concept of the “supernatural” – which by definition is outside the scope of science and thus lacks any real-world context-evidence which is necessary for a valid scientific theory according to Kant, McGilChrist, Muzafer Sherif) – which makes the “supernatural” an artificial abstraction which is scientifically and academically worthless. My argument is that in light of the “selective attention” process which is acknowledged as a critical process in the human mind – re-directs and mis-directs attention from functional spirituality to an empty and meaningless artificial abstraction.
Long ago Aristotle described the scientific process as a 4 step process: 1. Gather the facts 2. Categorize the evidence into types 3. Analyze the evidence 4. Draw conclusions. It is a bit mindboggling that the mistake materialists made was so simple and fundamental. Materialists failed to distinguish between “tangible” and “intangible” – labeling all spirituality as “intangible” and “supernatural”. There are a number of very “tangible” types of spirituality! 1. Spirituality of Compassion (Sprecher, S, B Fehr 2005; Saslow, Laura Rose 2011) 2. Musical Spirituality: 3. Spiritual Healing in Grieving 4. Children’s Spirituality 5. Artistic Spirituality 6. Poets and Prophecy 7. Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence 8. divinity in nature – earth as a living force 9. Spirituality and Autism 10. pro-social norms. Another major methodology flaw is that materialists failed to distinguish bet6ween the “divine” and the supernatural. There is a world of difference between “divine” and “supernatural”. For instance, Celtic Spirituality and Celtic Catholicism holds “A deep reverence for nature is a central conviction in Celtic Spirituality. Creation is revelation. God’s presence permeates all of creation. Every single piece of it. Celtic Spirituality holds that the Divine is incarnate in all of creation.” In the context of beliefs, “divinity” would also be a “tangible” type of spirituality.
Social consciousness can be difficult to understand. If ever there was a social-political movement that centered on thoughts and ideas, the Enlightenment would be it. The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, which began in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries were an intellectual and philosophical force created by social-political-religious ideas that dominated the world of ideas in Europe and generated major changes in the culture of Western Civilization. Furthermore, human consciousness has developed and ‘evolved’ through the various stages in human history- from the stone age to the iron age to moder industrial civilization – so. It would appear readily apparent that an influential factor in understanding human consciousness would be “Consciousness as drive and force”! That would be especially relevant in context of cross-cultural understanding such as Filipino values like Bayanihan, Kapwa, loob. In the essay, “Myths as Symbolic Maps of Social-Moral Order”, I stress the historical connection and correlation between spiritual beliefs and social-moral order – which supports Emile Durkheim’s view of religion as the foundation of morality – that religious experiences generate shared values and beliefs that bind society together. There is a major point made by Saslow that there is a difference between spiritual processes and religiosity processes – and that spiritual processes are more closely connected with prosocial values such as compassion. Many scholars who are anti-religious lump spirituality in with religiosity and throw spirituality away – when it appears readily apparent that spirituality is closely correlated with prosocial values such as compassion and community.
“Behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration of this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion!” Albert Einstein
Eugene Wigner on quantum physics: “It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness.”
“Divine good is not something apart from our nature, and is not removed far away from those who have the will to seek it; it is in fact within each of us, ignored indeed, and unnoticed!” – St Gregory of Nyssa
Endorsed and Peer Reviewed (since 2018 minimally 10,000 views and zero criticisms) Critique of Materialist Methods – specifically the Academic Materialist Model that “All spirituality is unreal” – which is based on the argument that all “spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” Which is a fallacy-maladaptive stereotype, specifically the Definist Fallacy. As a point of information, I would add that on academia.edu I am leading a discussion of this critique which has 240 participants – including some high-profile scholars. Below are the scholars who endorsed the critique.
1. Dr. Paul Wong, Professor Emeritus of Trent University edited two large volumes of The Human Quest for Meaning (which I personally found extremely helpful) and authored over 300 publications on topics stated about this essay, “Your letter to a congressman needs to be published somewhere.!”
2. Dr. Harold Koenig, a medical doctor-psychiatrist, a well published and very well-known author and researcher stated about this article: “Charlie – makes perfect sense to me, and very nice letter right on target! HK Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Associate Professor of Medicine Duke University Medical Center.
3. Dr. Stephen Farra: Columbia International University Emeritus, a Christian psychologist and director of the Psychology Program at Columbia International University i, stated unequivocally that the “Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all
4. Stefan Schindler, an award-winning author, and retired psychology-philosophy professor responded to my question: “Would you say the argument about the “methodological flaw” is correct” – stating, “Yes, correct!”
Materialist Maxim: spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses.”
William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen state, “A philosophical basis for this perspective is materialism, the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” “Definist Fallacies” occur when someone unfairly defines a term so that a controversial position is made easier to defend – like defining spirituality as “intangible” – which is a “loaded term.” The Definist Fallacy is the same as the same as the “Persuasive Definition.” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) As one scholar noted “breath” is beyond the senses, but if you stop breathing, you are dead! So, being beyond the senses does NOT mean it is valueless!
When Death becomes a Figment of Your Imagination!
Not all that long ago, I happened to be talking with a Filipina college student at a street restaurant in General Santos, Philippines. I went over the materialist argument as explained by Miller & Thompson in the NIH article as “the belief that there is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” Since Filipinas have a reputation for being spiritual, I was a bit surprised when the Filipina college student/graduate agreed with the argument that spirituality is unreal because it is “intangible’.
So, I asked her to consider – for a moment – the concept of “death!” I emphasized that out that – of all things – “death” is “intangible and beyond the senses” and way beyond quantification. Then I pointed out that if you then follow the logic and reasoning of the materialist argument, “Death – then – becomes a “figment of her imagination and superstitious nonsense.” She paused for a second, then agreed with my reasoning – which was a major success for me.
Of course, the idea of death being a “figment of your imagination and unreal” is totally absurd. But then again, the statement that “all spirituality is unreal” is equally absurd and wrong on several levels. First it is a fallacy – a “delusion”! Secondly there are a number of very “tangible” types of spirituality: Spirituality of Compassion, Musical Spirituality, Spiritual Experiences and Healing in Grieving, Children’s Spirituality, Artistic Spirituality, Poetry and Prophecy, Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence, Spirituality in nature as a living force, and Autistic spirituality
Spiritual Poison: Academic Maladaptive Stereotype:
Dr Stephen Farra On the subject of the materialist Definist – maladaptive stereotype “All spirituality is unreal”! Dr Stephen Farra, wrote: “Charles, I strongly agree that the Definist Fallacy (leading to a closed Materialism) is spiritual poison, and has hurt us all! Frankl writes about how a closed Naturalism leads to a suffocating Reductionism, which leads to a mental and emotional Nihilism and the kind of Moral Corruption he experienced in Auschwitz and Dachau……” “Spiritual Poison” may be an understatement. Materialist norms convey and teach Delusional Thinking.
Giant Cosmic Parrots – a Mindset Produced by the Materialist Ideology and Fallacy that all “Spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” And thus “Unreal!”
It is clear the Definist Fallacy is a major underlying cause for ignorant comments by college graduates – such as these comments I heard on FB “science” groups: “mental illness,” “Santa Claus”, “fairies,” and so on. The most obnoxious comment was by a neuroscientist who stated on my which was a fairly generic post about spirituality in which I didn’t even mention spiritual-psychic experiences – “please keep the religious drivel to religious channels, this is science and science by its very nature only deals with the material – what can be observed and measured. It serves no practical use of time to hypothesize whether giant cosmic parrots travelling from higher dimensions are responsible for anything because unless one flies into our view there’s no way to prove it.”
As Justice Rehnquist states, “It is not true if the major premise is not true!”
The Materialist Supernatural Swindle
Definitions of the “Supernatural” as outside the scope of science –
• Mirriam-Webster
o departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature
o attributed to an invisible agent (such as a ghost or spirit)
• “Dictionary” Definition: “of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.”
The materialist Catch 22: I was “told” several times in psychology FB groups that in order to have spiritual and religious beliefs I first need to prove “God” However, ss St Gregory of Nyssa, St Augustine, and several other Christian leaders observe, God is beyond words and beyond comprehension. “According to the true words of the Lord [Mt 5.8], the pure of heart will see God. They will receive as much as their minds can comprehend. However, the unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all comprehension.” ((p.161 Song of songs) Prove the unprovable! Talk about catch 22
Point of order: Actualities of Spirituality and Real-World Context-Evidence – Consensus that Real-World context-evidence is a prerequisite for any valid scientific theory.
• Immanuel Kant: “If a concept lacks reference to any object of possible experience, Kant argues, it “has no meaning and is completely lacking in content”
• Iain McGilChrist: “Thinking is always thinking, but philosophical thinking is, upon the whole, at the extreme end of the scale of distance from the active urgency of concrete situations. It is because of this fact that neglect of context is the besetting fallacy of philosophical thought … I should venture to assert that the most pervasive fallacy of philosophic thinking goes back to neglect of context … neglect of context is the greatest single disaster which philosophic thinking can incur.”
• Muzafer Sherif: “Sherif emphasizes that real world contexts are important, even if regarded as “messy” compared to controlled lab experiments.” “A psychological construct—if it is to prove valid and adequate—must be as valid and adequate in handling the stuff of ordinary human affairs as in handling the controlled variables of the laboratory experiment.”
• “Proper knowledge maps or mirrors the actualities of the real world.” K Gergen
Conclusion: The Supernatural Concept” has no real-world context-evidence or actualities and so is an artificial abstraction which is unscientific and utterly meaningless – and misdirects peoples attention from functional and fruitful – to empty meaninglessness.
The “Supernatural” Concept has Zero Real World Context evidence
The Supernatural concept is in reality a derivative of the underlying materialist argument that “spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses”! Besides being a fallacy, it is also untrue because there are a number of tangible types of spirituality. The Supernatural Concept has ZERO Real-World Context-evidence. The Supernatural, besides having no real-world context-evidence is also a Gross Oversimplification vs the Complexity of interconnections in the human brain
Besides having no real-world context-evidence, another methodology issue with the concept is that it is a gross oversimplification. Neuroscience research consistently demonstrates that the brain is intimately interconnected and phenomena such as morals or music have important interconnections with many regions of the brain and not the product of an isolated region solely responsible for behaviors. As Durkheim observed spiritual and religious beliefs are the genesis of morality in human evolution.
Complexity of Interconnections of the Human Brain
Funk and Gazzanigna: “Morality is a set of complex emotional and cognitive processes that is reflected across many brain domains. Some of them are recurrently found to be indispensable in order to emit a moral judgment, but none of them is uniquely related to morality…………Some of the emotions processed are more central to morality than others, but all emotions contribute to moral judgment given specific contextual situations…..The neural circuits of brain regions implicated in morality overlap with those that regulate other behavioral processes, suggesting that there is probably no undiscovered neural substrate that uniquely supports moral cognition.” Brain Architecture of human morality, Funk and Gazzanigna Current opinion in Neurobiology 2009 19:678-681)
Music is interconnected with singing, language and speech, as well as dancing – overlapping other processes. “Music is a core human experience and generative processes reflect cognitive capabilities. Music is often functional because it is something that can promote human well-being by facilitating human contact, human meaning, and human imagination of possibilities, tying it to our social instincts. Music cuts across diverse cognitive capabilities and resources, including numeracy, language, and space perception. In the same way, music intersects with cultural boundaries, facilitating our “social self” by linking our shared experiences and intentions.” (The evolution of music and human social capability Jay Schulkin, medical researcher, Greta B. Raglan Front Neurosci. 2014; 8: 292.)
“Supernatural” as an Artificial Abstraction-Distraction
Is God Supernatural
When I asked my partner, who is a Filipina Catholic, if “God is supernatural?” She replied, “Yes.” I pointed out that from my research Jesus Christ never once used the word “supernatural” in the gospels and the concept of the holy Spirit in no way matches the materialist concept of the “Supernatural” – for example, Spirit and Truth – John 4:23-24; Spirit is Truth – John 5:6; or guidance – Luke 1:27. Then there are gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Catholic tradition, the seven gifts are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Lastly, he fruits of the Holy Spirit are nine virtues that are believed to be the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence in a believer’s life, as described in Galatians 5:22-23. These fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Even worst, the supernatural comes with baggage – such as powers, superstitious nonsense, magic, mental illness. Dr Koenig highlights the fact that historically psychiatry at times views transcendental spiritual experiences as “psychosis!” I felt good that my partner strongly agrees with my point – plus several of my other spiritual and Christian connections definitely agree that is a valid point.
Selective Attention Factor
Unfortunately, materialists have successfully pigeonholed and pegged ‘all spirituality as unreal and superstitious nonsense! In dictionaries Prophecy, myths, as well as some religious beliefs are designated as “supernatural”! It is my view that the materialist “supernatural” and “intangible and beyond the senses” norms-stereotypes have redirected attention of believers and nonbelievers alike from productive and fruitful focus to a focus to a meaningless and empty artificial abstraction.
David DiSalvo states, “Selective attention,” also called “selectivity bias”—the tendency to orient oneself toward and process information from only one part of our environment to the exclusion of other parts, no matter how obvious those parts may be.” There is a consensus that “selective attention” is absolutely pivotal in human consciousness. Without doubt the supernatural maladaptive stereotype has distorted the thinking of millions of people. That maladaptive stereotype is prevalent in Western culture and academia and is found in many definitions of prophecy and myths – despite being meaningless and unscientific. It is readily apparent that the materialist maladaptive stereotype has successfully redirected the “attention” of millions of people and focused their attention to a meaningless, empty abstraction – a major and very destructive maladaptive stereotype!
From a Christian framework – the “supernatural distracts from worshipping in “spirit and truth” – 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” To my knowledge, that is the only passage in which Christ mandates the form of worship.
The “Supernatural” is a Meaningless Artificial Abstraction: After tens of thousands of years of spiritual and religious beliefs, how did the designation of spirituality as “totally unreal” come about? As Nobel prize winning physicist, Brian Josephson observed, academics are largely fixated with the “supernatural” as opposed to the functionality and fruitfulness of spiritual beliefs. “The supernatural” concept derives from the materialist concept that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses – except worse in a way because – by definition – the “supernatural” is outside the scope of science. The Definition of supernatural in “Dictionary” is “of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.” From my research Jesus Christ never once used thew word “supernatural” and the supernatural bears no resemblance to the Holy Spirit or the idea of “God” in the Old or New Testament. It is a bit mindboggling that materialists – using this term – managed to peg or pigeonhole spirituality as supernatural and so meaningless and superstitious nonsense – and other-worldly – disconnecting spirituality from any “real world context-evidence.
“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.” – Saint Gregory of Nyssa
A very destructive Maladaptive stereotype
It is my view that the materialist “supernatural” and “intangible and beyond the senses” norms-stereotypes have redirected attention form productive and fruitful focus to a focus on a meaningless and empty artificial abstraction. Without doubt the supernatural maladaptive stereotype has distorted the thinking of millions of people. That maladaptive stereotype is prevalent in Western culture and academia and is found in many definitions of prophecy and myths – despite being meaningless and unscientific. It is readily apparent that the materialist maladaptive stereotype has successfully redirected the “attention” of millions of people and focused their attention to a meaningless, empty abstraction – a major and very destructive maladaptive stereotype! From a Christian framework – the “supernatural distracts form worshipping in “spirit and truth” – John 23-24 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” To my knowledge, that is the only passage in which Christ mandates the form of worship.
“the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order” – Rene Guenon
Rene Guenon & the materialist problem: “Rationalism in all its forms is essentially defined by a belief in the supremacy of reason, proclaimed as a veritable ‘dogma’, and implying the denial of everything that is of a supra-individual order, notably of pure intellectual intuition, and this carries with it logically the exclusion of all true metaphysical knowledge….[and] the rejection of all spiritual authority, rationalism and individualism are thus so closely linked together that they are usually confused,” (p.90)
Guenon’s assessment is correct. Kenneth Gergen, David Hay and Virgilio Enriquez agree that Rational Individualism (a political ideal) has morphed (from the Age of Reason to the Materialist Age) into a form of extreme individualism. Wikipedia has only three references to social consciousness – the most salient being Karl Marx. In western academia, the Rational Individualism norm holds sway. As a point of information, the English language has no words for the Filipino words, Bayanihan (helping others in a community context), Kapwa (shared identity), or loob (relational will – equality)
Alfred Rupert Sheldrake, author, and biochemist at Cambridge University concludes: “The atheist ideology found a powerful ally in materialist science, which by the end of the nineteenth century, portrayed a purposeless, unconscious, mechanical universe where humans, like all life, had evolved without purpose or guidance.” (p.155)
Spiritual Actualities (compassion, grieving, music, art) vs a Meaningless Artificial Abstraction – the “Supernatural”!!!
“Proper knowledge maps actualities of the real world!” – K Gergen
“Spirituality is a natural human predisposition! It is more primal than institutional religion and concerns a person’s sense of connectedness with self, others, and the world (or cosmos)!” K Adams & B Hyde
Genetics of Spirituality
Tim Spector, in the article, What Twins Reveal About the Science of Faith (Popular Science, August 8, 2013) states, “They [the researchers] estimated the heritability of spirituality to be around 40 to 50 percent, which is quite high considering how tricky it is to measure.” Even a precursory overview of spirituality in art, music, and mythology reveals that these spiritual processes have been intimately interconnected with processes heavily implicated in creativity, imagination, life-drive, as well as spiritual symbols and symbolism.
Categorization of spiritual actualities-types of spirituality
- Spirituality of Compassion (Sprecher, S, B Fehr 2005; Saslow, Laura Rose 2011) [i]
- Musical Spirituality (Schulkin, Jay, Greta B. Raglan. 2014; Cross, Ian.2003): [ii]
- Spiritual Healing in Grieving Easterling, L, Sewell, K. Gamino A., Stirman, L 2000 Gillies, James, and R. A. Neimeyer. 2006: Parker, Julie S. 2005, Kiliánová, Gabriela. 2010) [iii]
- Children’s Spirituality (Hyde, Brendan 2008; Thomas, Donna.2022)[iv]
- Artistic Spirituality (Johnston, Robert K. 2013. Langer, Susanne K 1966)[v]
- Poetry and Prophecy (Heschel, Abraham Joshua. 1954).[vi]
- Dream Weaving/Creative Transcendence (Hernani, Emmanuel Villoria, Ma Rosita Ampoyas Hernani, and Delmo Amfan Dulay. 2021)[vii]
- Spiritual beliefs in nature – earth as a living force
- Spirituality and Autism (Visuri, Ingela. 2019)[viii]
- pro-social norms
- Prevalence of Spiritual-Psychic Experiences The religious scholar, Fraser Watts, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications, points out that surveys show that roughly 1/3 of people report having spiritual experiences [ix](p. 63). Park and Paloutzian report that somewhere between 1/3 to half of people report spiritual-psychic experiences depending on the questions asked. In one study, atheists and agnostics compromised 24% of the people surveyed who had transcendental spiritual experiences[x]. That should be no surprise since human beings have believed in spirit and spirits for tens of thousands of years! So unconscious spiritual symbolism would without doubt be genetically inherited to some extent or another. The fact that atheists have spiritual-psychic experiences would seem a strong argument that spiritual symbolism is a reality in the unconscious. Bargh, the unconscious researcher did emphasize that the conscious is largely separate and distinct from the unconscious.[xi] As William James observed – and modern neuroscience confirmed – people “filter” information as part of the selective attention process. It is true that spirituality and life – are what you make of them![xii]
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