27 December 2007
A Post Post-Modern Approach to Reality
Posted by Carleton Schade under: Philosophy .
This entry is the second of three from Neal Goldsmith, philosopher and psychotherapist, at http://www.nealgoldsmith.com/philosophy.html. I will add only that what is here referred to as Post-Modern might more properly be called Post-Post Modern or perhaps Integrative, as Post-Modernism has usually been seen as deconstructive in perspective.
“Every world view contains the seeds of its own eventual dethroning, contradictions that will be explained only by the next, superseding world view. Today, it is post-modernism supplanting modernity – the dualism of Descartes being replaced by a world view that accommodates and integrates opposites: of technology and art, mind and body, man and god, matter and energy, spirit and flesh. This is what I refer to as a “poetry science” - not the science of poetry, or poetry about science, but a poetical world view that positions modern, industrial, extractive science in the broader, undergirding context of cosmology, creativity, spirituality, and community.
“I am a believer in a non-dual, NATURAL philosophy. That is, the universe is at times counterintuitive, but never supernatural. I also apply that idea to viewing the mind: nothing SUPER-natural, just holistic and Gestalt, so exhibiting emergent properties, such as intelligence and awareness. The same argument can be applied to the universe as a whole: it’s Gestalt and emergent - what some refer to as “miraculous” – but fully natural. So I don’t believe in an external deity - just what we have inside us. The seemingly miraculous or supernatural is just the nature of the universe itself - the whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts gestalt effect in full operation. This is a holistic, “spiritual” perspective, but also a scientific one. For me, a world view has to successfully pass through both the spiritual and the scientific sieves. This requires a holistic approach high in perspective and broad enough in inclusiveness to recontextualize and embrace what we’ve been referring to as the “spiritual,” thus making the scientific magical and magic only natural. In modernity, when we think of the cosmic level of the Universe as a whole, counterintuitive behavior such as the Big Bang or time dilation is now accepted as normal. Likewise, at the sub-atomic level of quantum mechanics, we accept counterintuitive, “weird” behavior (such as matter springing into existence, or particles communicating instantly over great distance) as the new “normal.” Despite this wonderful insight on nature at the extremes, at the human, Newtonian scale we still insist that reality must be linear, logical, predictable and mechanistic.
“Yet a post-modern science must also be able to accommodate counterintuitive human-scale topics such as mind, psychosomatics, spirituality, ESP, the psychedelic experience, spontaneous remission, stigmata. It is in a “poetry science” that we can see that, even at the human scale, reality is not Newtonian. This post-modern perspective on the human scale might be better explained by eastern philosophies, such as yoga and Buddhism, human-scale philosophies more consistent with the seemingly counterintuitive perspectives of quantum mechanics and cosmology.
“In my clinical practice, then, I take a world view that…
- Is relativistic, but not amoral;
- Offers a rich, dualistic interplay, but is not oppositional;
- Is transcendent in perspective, but doesn’t descend into apathy;
- Views the Universe as animist, but refuses to see this observation as supernatural.
“This perspective is crucially important, not just for scientists, researchers, clergy, clinicians and activists, but for all of us trying to protect ourselves and help the world move forward. Moreover, this is an inevitable perspective: as the global information infrastructure continues to grow, the future belongs to the unified, transcendent whole, not to any one of divisive, combative opponents. Ultimately, the poetry science perspective becomes one of truth and freedom, versus blinders and decline – it’s our choice – and one that is made every day in psychotherapy.”
6 Comments so far...
pibraady Says:
28 February 2008 at 2:22 pm.
Not much on my mind. Basically not much exciting going on today. Eh. I’ve just been letting everything happen without me recently, but it’s not important. Pfft. Eh. I’ve more or less been doing nothing , but shrug. Pretty much nothing seems worth thinking about, but oh well. I guess it doesn’t bother me. More or less not much noteworthy happening today. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve just been sitting around waiting for something to happen. My life’s been generally boring today. I haven’t gotten anything done recently. I’ve just been letting everything wash over me these days. Not much on my mind worth mentioning. My mind is like a fog. I haven’t been up to anything these days. I can’t be bothered with anything.
foftfraroky Says:
25 August 2008 at 12:01 am.
There is an awful virus a2SUÂtrojan which blocks work of the computer and steals the data of credit cards, e-mail, bank accounts information. the only thing that has helped me - this antivirus.