Thinking out loud about the use of the word “spirituality”

Courtesy of the folks at:

http://www.nerduprising.co/dotgrid/12

I am wrestling with my use of the term “spirituality”, as I use it in my personal writing, such as

In Air Water Ground (see link to document in the side bar), and in particular; and the post Human Socially Obligate Boundary Conditions and Related Cultural Universals http://airwaterground.blogspot.com/2015/07/human-socially-obligate-boundary.html  And  Regarding the Development and Fitness Value of Spirituality, http://airwaterground.blogspot.com/2015/03/regarding-thedevelopment-and-fitness.html

The definitions of spirituality are wide, varied and unsettled. They range from the the plethora of  “new age” views to the newer secular variants, such as in the writings of  Ursula Goodenough or Sam Harris .

The term religion is I think, much simpler to define. My take on that is that it:

Is a term denoting a group of individuals

That group self identifies around a spiritual schema

Exhibits expression of the Pseudospeciation Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (PSOBC)

Exhibits expression of the Vertical Dominance Hierarchy Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (VSOBC)

I am wondering if I should substitute for spirituality a term such as superstition or supernatural. This would thereby exclude / clarify that the secular spirituality concepts such as those expressed by Ursula Goodenough /Sam Harris are not included.

My reason for using spirituality as I do is simply, its etymological roots.  Which for my purposes, seems well, appropriate.

“The term spirit means "animating or vital principle in man and animals". It is derived from the Old French espirit which comes from the Latin word spiritus (soul, courage, vigor, breath) and is related to spirare (to breathe). In the Vulgate the Latin word spiritus is used to translate the Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah.  …The term "spirituality" is derived from Middle French spiritualité, from Late Latin "spiritualitatem" (nominative spiritualitas), which is also derived from Latin spiritualis.”   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality , citations omitted.

Supernatural, given the very existence of the concept, may be a better term for my use? “The supernatural (Medieval Latin: supernātūrālis: supra "above" + naturalis "nature", first used: 1520–30 AD) is that which is not subject to the laws of physics or, more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural citation omitted

Or perhaps superstition? It is perhaps too narrow of a term for my application? “Superstition is the belief in supernatural causality—that one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events—such as astrology, religion, omens, witchcraft, prophecies, etc., that contradicts natural science.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition

Human Socially Obligate Boundary Conditions and Related Cultural Universals

"In this animation, the vertical direction indicates time and the horizontal direction indicates distance, the dashed line is the spacetime trajectory ("world line") of the observer. The lower half of the diagram shows the events that are "earlier" than the observer, and the upper half shows events that are "later" than the observer. The small dots are arbitrary events in spacetime."

 Will be included in Air Water Ground at a later date.

Draft

Human Socially Obligate Boundary Conditions and Related Cultural Universals

Jay Moynihan 07/05/2015                                                                             

The Cultural Universals are from:

The Evolution of Childhood  Relationships, Emotion, Mind, Melvin Konner, The Belknap Press of

Harvard University Press, (2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_universal

Human Universals... compiled by Donald E. Brown

..as published in The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, 2002, New York: Viking Press

Brown, D.E. 1991. Human universals. New York: McGraw-Hill

Note: Socially Obligate Boundary Condition is A set of social parameters or conditions that evolved in a specie, that limits its behavior at a given point in space time. May change in adaptation to changing conditions, including social conditions. Jsm, Air Water Ground .

Pseudospeciation Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (PSOBC)

Extra-genetic transmission of language

Kin Terms (language)

Binary conceptual discrimination (language)

Historic linguistic change

Childhood physical aggression (more so in males)

Recognition of individual faces

Sense of distinctive peoplehood

Relatives distinguished from non-relatives

Conflict at individual & group levels

Ethical dualism; different rules for in-group/out-group

Belief in supernatural entities

Territoriality

Historical & origin narratives

Dispersal of groups

Discrimination (pseudospeciation )

Fear of strangers

Negative identification of us/them

Cultural construction of perception (collective assimilation)

Sense of self as subject/object

Vertical Dominance Hierarchy Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (VSOBC)

Kin Terms (language)

Division of labor by sex and age

Females attracted to powerful males

Male abuse of power

Ascribed & achieved status role beyond age, sex, kinship

Perscription off behaviors

Belief in supernatural entities

Crime

Mimicry

Moral sentiment

Leaders

Defacto oligarchies

Collective decision making

Territoriality

Inheritance rules

Nepotism

Cultural construction of perception (collective assimilation)

Cultural coherence (overarching themes)

Status Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (SSOBC)

Childhood Physical aggression (males more so in males)

Play fighting

Division of labor by sex and age

Females attracted to powerful males

Male attraction to nubile females

Ascribed & achieved status role beyond age, sex, kinship

Cultural coherence (overarching themes)

Cultural construction of perception (collective assimilation)

Symbolism

Defacto oligarchy

Territoriality

Sense of self as subject/object

Economic Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (ESOBC)

Reciprocity, exchanges, cheating

Personal Property

Cultural construction of perception (collective assimilation)

Symbolism

Cultural Schematization

Abstract thought

Trade

Sense of self as subject/object

Systemic, varied tool making

Reciprocal exchange

Turn taking

I am toying with recognizing spirituality as a SOBC.?

IF Spirituality Socially Obligate Boundary Condition (SPSOBC)

Belief in supernatural entities

Symbolic thought

Sense of self as subject/object

Abstract thought

Cultural Schematization

Cultural construction of perception (collective assimilation)

Rituals

Fear of death

Death rituals/mourning

Dream interpretation

Beliefs about death

Narratives

Historical & origin narratives

Moral sentiment

Consciousness altering substances

Belief in life after death

World view

Anthropomorphization

Culture / nature distinction

Note:

Does religion = one of our species’s expressions of {  SPSOBC+ VSOBC + PSOBC + ESOBC } ?

The Republic's Swan Song?

Is he our Cicero? Hopefully his hands will not be nailed to the doors of the senate. Senator Bernie Sanders, speech on 07/01/2015.
https://berniesanders.com/news/live-madison-wisconsin/

Cafeteria Abrahamics, or, Laudato Sii Dominus

Adam naming the animals of the world, Peterborough Bestiary ( 14th Century)

Tomorrow's publication by the Vatican of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si , is already caused a spinfest in the media. Apparently it is in part a faith based call to action on matters "environmental", including the current period of anthroprogenic rapid climate change. Those who may be loosely lumped under the category environmentalist are hoping it sways the political conversation about climate change in the United States their way, while those in the opposing camp are girding their loins for the coming battle.

On the mundane level, i look forward to seeing the "right-wing" folks who for years have hurled the epithet Cafeteria Catholic at the "left-Wing", being hoisted by their own petard. 

Also, i welcome anything that helps my fellow surviving members of the genus Homo come to terms with the necessity of mitigating, or at least, planning adaptation to, rapid climate change. Any port in a storm, as the saying goes.

Granted, this looming philosophical dust up could (probably will?) subsume into the spin cycles of American public "discourse". But a subsidiary point i would like to make in this post is, Could this result in schism in the Catholic Church in the United States? 

The other friction points between American Catholics and the Vatican are pretty much questions akin to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin (homosexuality, abortion yada, yada) and can be either ignored by individuals or used to stir up the folks in Short Attention Span Theatre for one's own funding and electoral ends. But damn! This new thing from the Vatican is important. I mean it has to do with making money!

We should not forget the contingent rise of Protestantism and the European concept of middle class, and the beginnings of the market economics. Protestantism was a bargain for business folks (sol fide, no more indulgences, The Calvinist linking of wealth and grace, etc.). But i digress. To the main topic of this post.

Cafeteria Abrahamics?

As Hannah Arendt among other pointed out, there is a near universal tendency in humans to found the legitimacy, and resultant authority of an idea or belief on it being old in origin, or being founded in the time of perceived origin. This trope, along with the logical fallacy of appeal to authority, are the primary buttresses of all arguments founded on a "scripture". But such is not limited to the religious realm. I remember the humorous assertions in the 1970's of vegans (we, a specie with the dental structure of an omnivore were originally vegetarian) and some feminists (we, a specie that is gender dimorphic with the males larger were originally in cultures that were female dominate or gender neutral) that illustrate that this tendency is not limited only to the religious.

This is often a necessary recourse for modern devotees of one of the Abrahamic faiths. The Age of Reason, The Enlightenment and the rise of scientific thought created a modern morality the decreased the barbarous behaviors in history of those professing belief in one of the Abrahamic faiths. 

The majority of these modern believers would no longer condone the vast majority of the recommended behavior found in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus etc. A child or adult who tended towards those beliefs now would be considered by a majority of Abrahamics in need of rapid intervention and some serious counseling. The ones that do not feel that way, tend to populate the various "Talibans" (politically right wing fundamentalist Christians, Jews, Muslims etc.) around the world. 

The various Talibans do not exhibit much concern over environmental matters generally or rapid climate change in particular, being wrapped up in their respective struggle with the satanic _________ (insert appropriate group(s)/people) and often seem be in some sort of rapturous anticipation of the "end times"* at which the satanic _________(insert appropriate group(s)/people) will get what coming to them.

But for those of the Abrahamic Faithful who are comparatively housebroken, that learned the principles of The Enlightenment with their mother's milk, you have "Stewardship Theology". 

But i wager that Stewardship Theology is (though again, I say thanks the god(s) it exists!) another attempt to not have to credit correctness or authority to a newish idea or concept. In essence, it is a another beneficial example of Abrahamic Cafeteriaism.

The source for the following excerpts, unless otherwise noted, is the JPS Hebrew - English Tanakh, edition, Jewish Publication Society (2nd Edition 1999)

Genesis 1:24-30:

" ...And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the seas, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all creeping the things that creep on earth. [after one of the descriptions of the creation of man & woman]...And God said to them, be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all things that creep on earth. And God said, see, I give you every seed bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed bearing fruit, they shall be your food. And to all animals on the land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, in which there is the breath of life , I give all the green plants for food."

Genesis 3:19-20

And the Lord formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature that would be its name. And man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky, and to all wild beasts."

"A common concept in history is that knowing the name of something or someone gives one power over that thing or person. This concept occurs in many different forms, in numerous cultures—in ancient and primitive tribes, as well as in Islamic, Jewish, Egyptian, Vedic, Hindu, and Christian traditions. The strength of this belief varies, and there are certainly exceptions to it. Nonetheless, the persistence and historical continuity of the linking of naming and power are unmistakable. Some scholars find it embedded in the first verses of Genesis, probably written over three thousand years ago; others believe it to be an intrinsic characteristic of classical Greek religion; still others find it a central feature in magic and folklore; and modern feminists often see it as the reason that a woman in marriage is traditionally asked to take the name of her new husband. In all these cases, naming something or someone is seen as the exertion of dominion over that thing or person."

http://philoctetes.org/news/the_power_of_names_religion_mathematics

Some fans of the Film Noah may interpose at this point, but hey, the rules changed after the flood, didn't they? Please turn to Genesis 9 1-3:

"God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, be fertile and increase and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky, everything with which the earth is astir, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given to your hand."

So where in the "good book" can one hang their stewardship hat? Nowhere.

Well, apart from the later, post-biblical teaching in the middle ages of Francis of Assisi (most fun ways to learn about this are here and here , the later having much better acting etc.) and various mystical tradition such as Sufism.

Perhaps the "steward" from this, given that word  "steward" in the archaic, could be the manger of farm or vineyard labor.

Genesis 2: 15:

"The Lord God took man and placed him the garden of Eden to til it and tend it."

*My favorite End Times

Today's Verse

“With God all things are possible”

Matthew 19:26

A jot here, a title there

As long as i did a post on Christianity, wanna do one more. The American Taliban (i.e. the politically right wing Christians) Support the rule of sharia biblical law over secular law in America, and eventually, across the world.

This would mean of course, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, among other parts. Now granted those books have been a goldmine for comedians, but to the religious right of all the Abrahamic Faiths they are the frigin word of almighty God. 

In fact , in 1 AD they were the law in Judea (except where it was preempted by those comparatively liberal, soft on crime etc. Romans...). They are at the center of Mosaic, Sharia, and middle ages Canon Law. 

Mainline Christianity was housebroken by the Enlightenment/Age of Reason and its components of "humanist" values.
So here is a fun one for your friends who are liberal Christians, (the ones who will "...suffer a witch to live" :) ):

What would Jesus do?

Well, hmmm, Matthew 5 ,17:

"Do not think that i am come to destroy the law or the prophets.

 I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

The Vulgate Bible, Vol. VI Douay-Reims Translation, page 21 (2013).

Let me just say i am aware of the reams of Christian apologetica* on this, so you can skip the emails...As well as the positions of dispentationalism and hyper-dispensationalism yada yada.

But hey, dems da words....


As in "apology"; something that is said or written to defend something that other people criticize. See here

The Christians have a mandela too

A Mandela/Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism. But Christians have one also. The Shield of the Trinity

Known from the time of the Middle Ages in Europe,but probably of early origin, possibly not long after the concept of the Trinity was made dogma in 325 AD, at the First Council of Nicaea. 
Karen Armstrong and other scholars of Christianity have written that such a symbol was carved on the walls of the earliest monasteries which would serve as a point of concentration for novitiates. While starring at it they would pray/chant the words incessantly until achieving "a loss of self into the oneness of God". 

Satori anyone?

The Shield and its chant/prayer would probably work quite well in this use. If there is only a single god, it illustrates a non-logical/irrational concept, an "impossibility" language-wise, (i.e. Zen's What is the sound of one hand clapping?). Therefore, perfect for mystical contemplation.

A clever one liner

Chris Hedges during today's On Point radio program:
"Clinton drove the Democrats into being Republicans, and drove the Republicans into insanity."

A generation of swine

“In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.” 
Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's

“There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.” 
Ibid

Disclaimer
As usual, everything herein is the viewpoint of this writer. It has nothing to do, and is totally not  the views, opinions, mutterings, brain states of any other human being, including but not limited to; friends, relatives, acquaintances, ex-spouses, co-workers, all employers past/present/future, clients, and for those listed above that are humans, their respective inner and skin surface flora & fauna, parasites & hyper parasites. 

Meanwhile, in Short Attention Span Theater...

I think an event this week in Wisconsin political news is providing an interesting chance to observe the difference between the types of thinking you find in a plutocracy vs a republic. 
The revenue shortfall facing the elected lickspittles and catspaws in state government this time (some would say created by both their policies and revenue cutting in the last budget cycle, but i digress...) is being met with a flow of crocodile tears about the cutting of services that is "necessary". It appears that this  plutocratic/producerist Kool -Aid is also being happily drunk down by Newstainment, and hence the general populace of lickspittles and catspaws, who have endured 35 years of tax bad, business good.
In a republic, where the duty of both citizen and elected official is to the "general welfare" and "public good" when acting on things shared in common (res publica... get it?). Would be, from any faction the populace juudged competent enough that it actually held office: "We do not know what percent or fraction of a percent taxes will go up , we will work that out."
(for the modern reaction to someone saying that now this, click here )

“Who knows? If there is in fact, a heaven and a hell, all we know for sure is that hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix — a clean well lighted place full of sunshine and bromides and fast cars where almost everybody seems vaguely happy, except those who know in their hearts what is missing... And being driven slowly and quietly into the kind of terminal craziness that comes with finally understanding that the one thing you want is not there. Missing. Back-ordered...."
Ibid

OK, my language above is probably a tad harsh, pejorative. But, you gotta understand, i am one of those guys who has watched this movie a dozen or more times.* Most of the viewings were when i was a sprout. In a way, i am being just some old curmudgeon.  In our New Order, wherein wealth is the outward sign of an inward grace is not this change proper? The Neoliberal and American Producerism mind share is triumphant. Consider how there was apparently not a general outcry when an incumbent U.S. Senator recently suggested that look to the days of help from the churches for the little help they still get from government. If you listen carefully, you might hear a faint wrrrrr as T. Jefferson spins in his grave.

Back to the future i guess.


* the whole movie