Prism Paradigm: Energy-Filter Metaphor  

Prism Paradigm and selective attention: In this metaphor, energy – both emotional and psychic – are “light” going through a prism. There is agreement among William James, Donald Kalsched, and Furlotti that often powerful energy originates in unconscious symbolism – which is processed and filtered by the conscious mind. Diverse form and types of spirituality emerge from this consciousness prism. Lastly, neuroscience has demonstrated that there are two sides to selective attention. Selective attention focuses attention but it also filters out information (in order to focus). It is true that “Spirituality and Life are what you make of them!” It is also true as Gasset observes – “I am I plus my circumstances” and in some cases that is not just cultural or political circumstances but can include “physiological” circumstances as well

Physiology Filters in Spirituality 1, Autistic spirituality & unexplainable sensory experiences 2, NF Personality types and Art 3, NF Personalities: Dreams and visions of the deceased 4. “Distress” or stress – at times – can trigger spiritual experiences. 5. Gender: Women vs Men: Studies consistently show women are more 6. Studies consistently show that individuals with stronger religious beliefs tend to hold more conservative political views. Kant, Muzafer Sherif, and Iain McGilChrist all insist that real-world context-evidence is a prerequisite for any valid scientific theory These physiological factors are very real real-world context-evidence in contrast with the materialist maxim that spirituality is “intangible and beyond the senses” is first of all a fallacy – a Definist Fallacy because it is a loaded term. Take the concept of “Death” for instance. Following the materialist argument “death”, then, become a figment of your imagination – which is absurd of course. Secondly there are a number of tangible types of spirituality such as compassion or grieving.

New Map-Models for Spirituality

Prism Paradigm: The Energy-Filter Metaphor:

Physiological Filters

1.    Autistic spirituality & unexplainable sensory experiences

As Dr Visuri emphasizes that out autistic spirituality tends to be expressed as unexplainable sensory experiences as well as invisible touch. It is readily apparent that unexplainable sensory experiences, which is unique to autistics, would be a result of their unique physiology – and perhaps compensatory for their well-known weakness in social skills and deficit in the “theory of mind” process or Default Mode Network which process social signals.

2.    NF Personality types and visions/dreams of the deceased

“Intuitive-feeling types are the most-rare. That’s why they often have trouble connecting with other people because they often feel judged, misunderstood, and left out…NF’s are usually empathetic individuals who strongly dislike conflict and injustices. They typically enjoy volunteering for social justice causes and seek careers that allow them to express their values and mission to help others. Although enjoying the arts is not exclusive to NF’s, they most often take music, artwork, writing, and drama to a different level.”

3.    Dreams and visions of the deceased – J. E. Kennedy observes: “Research

 studies have found that belief in paranormal phenomena is associated with the N and F personality factors (Gow, et. al., 2001; Lester, Thinschmidt, & Trautman, 1987; Murphy & Lester, 1976). In a study of a technique attempting to induce a sense of contact with someone who had died, 96% of the participants with NF personality types reported after-death contact experiences, whereas 100% of the participants with ST (sensing, thinking) personality types did not have these experiences (Arcangel, 1997).”  (Personality and Motivations to Believe, Misbelieve, And Disbelieve In Paranormal Phenomena by J. E. KENNEDY (Original publication and copyright Journal of Parapsychology, 2005, Volume 69, pp.263-292))

4.    “Distress” or stress – at times – can trigger spiritual experiences. Dr Ingela

Visuri, in her study of autistic spirituality, observes that “Distress” can be an underlying cause of spiritual experiences. Visuri also notes that beliefs sometimes emerge “gradually” in autistic experiences. Jean MacPhail, author, scholar, and expert on Vedanta also observes that among her many spiritual experiences, stress seemed to paly a strong role. I haven’t seen any hard numbers but as a rule of thumb in my experience spiritual experiences connected with death or grieving would likely be among the top types of experiences. Grieving and death are very stressful, of course.

5.    Gender: Women vs Men: Studies consistently show women are more

receptive to spirituality and religiosity, and attend church more regularly than males. “Women tend to be more spiritual and religious than men. This pattern has been found consistently across cultures, across religions, and throughout history (Stark 2002). Women also tend to believe in psychic phenomena more than men (reviewed in Irwin 1993, also see Orenstein 2002). In the Canadian survey, 72 percent of the extreme skeptics were males and 64 percent of the extreme believers were females. The tendency for men to be more skeptical may reflect a genetic tendency to be more inclined toward rational, practical thinking and competition whereas women tend to be more interested in people, relationships, and connections.” (An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Paranormal and Spiritual Experiences on Peoples’ Lives and Well-Being J.E. Kennedy and H. Kanthamani)

A possible underlying cause for this could be because women tend to engage both the left and right side together versus males who tend to be more left brain prioritized. Left brain – right brain theories are controversial – though a consensus that emotion are largely processes in the right brain appears to have become accepted. The classic theory suggests that right-brained people are more: creative, free-thinking, able to see the big picture, intuitive, likely to visualize more than think in words

6.    Studies consistently show that individuals with stronger religious beliefs tend

 to hold more conservative political views. This association is particularly strong among those who are highly politically engaged. “In a combined sample of national survey respondents from 1996 to 2008, religiosity was associated with conservative positions on a wide range of attitudes and values among the highly politically engaged, but this association was generally weaker or nonexistent among those less engaged with politics. The specific political characteristics for which this pattern existed varied across ethno-religious groups.” (The Association of Religiosity and Political Conservatism: The Role of Political Engagement April 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00875.x Ariel Malka, Yphtach Lelkes, Sanjay R Srivastava)

Integrative Approach and Synthesis-Consensus:

Viktor Frankl, William James and Carl Jung:

Spirit, spiritual and religious beliefs create meaning, a sense of reality, and ultimately meaning structures, reality, and truth and ultimately Meaning Structures, Reality, and Truth

Dr. Paul Wong, a world renowned Christian psychologist, author/editor of The Human Quest for Meaning: Theories, Research, and Applications (Personality and Clinical Psychology), and keynote speaker at a recent worldwide logotherapy convention – after I approached him with a brief summary of my “New Approach,”  made some thoughtful comments after looking over my brief summary. Dr. Paul Wong observed that “Your approach is new in the sense of a broad-minded integrative approach, breaking down the artificial traditional divide between science and religious, or scientific psychology versus humanistic or psychoanalytic psychology.” He went on to suggest that a title of “A new integrative approach” would be suitable.” It is a bit mindboggling – but it actually is a “new” approach. I have not come across any mention in my research suggesting any awareness of the Consensus among Viktor Frankl, William James and Carl Jung.

1, Emile Durkheim, a founding father of sociology, in his 1912 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, emphasized that religious and spiritual beliefs create social ideals, such as Morality, as well as Compassion Truth, Justice, Equality, and Righteousness!

2. Carl Jung, a psychoanalyst and contemporary of Sigmund Freud, observed that “Spirit gives meaning to his [man’s] life” (CW8:643)

3. William James emphasizes in his classic work, originally published in 1902, The Varieties of Religious Experiences that “They [spiritual experiences] determine our vital attitude as decisively as the vital attitude of lovers is determined by the habitual sense…… (P.47) William James goes on to say that religious experiences and spiritual experiences create and generate a “sense of reality” (p.48)

4. Paul Wong observes: “Frankl considers meaning seeking as stemming from one’s spiritual nature…. The noetic (spiritual, specifically human) dimension contains such qualities as our will to meaning [Frankl’s central concept of humanity’s primary drive] our goal orientation, ideas and ideals, creativity, imagination, faith, love that goes beyond the physical, a conscience beyond the superego, self-transcendence, commitments, responsibility, a sense of humor, and the freedom of choice making.” (anthology, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology (2014), edited by Batthyany and Russo-Netzer, p.156) 

This consensus among four very prominent psychologists dovetails into the Elzbieta Halas Model of Social Symbolism: Halas states that “More profoundly, groups exist only on the ground of common symbolization of their members.”  “The processes of symbolization…create a social order, express meaning and control actions.” – and R Reyes “Social-Moral Order”, as well as Durkheim’s Social Forces