Anyone even vaguely familiar with the term “mystical,” whether from a religious practice or simply from an investigation into the subject generally, can usually agree that it includes a whole range of possible experiences which may qualify. In his classic volume, “Varieties of Religious Experience,” William James writes: “The adjective ‘mystical’ is technically applied, most … Continue reading The Mystical Is Often Metaphorical
The title of this posting has expanded well beyond my initial idea for it, and as I explored a number of resources in the research phase of the writing process, I began to see part of the reason why there is a kind of muddling in the terminology between all of those listed in the … Continue reading Metaphysical, Mystical, Mythological, Metaphorical, or Just Plain Mysterious?
Day six of covid infection... Finally beginning to feel human again after five horrendous days of illness this past week. My experience with this illness has been very educational and directly responsible for an environment where my basic brain functionality suffered a major impairment of unprecedented character in my nearly seven decades of life. In … Continue reading And on the seventh day…
There have been moments lately, where it seemed to me, that I, myself, have been chasing the shade. Clearly, in the summertime, when it gets particularly hot, and the sun is particularly dangerous, we find ourselves moving our chairs so that they remain in the shade. As the sun creeps up, we move the chairs … Continue reading Winter Pastoral: Chasing the Shade
While reviewing some material on the subject of science and spirituality recently, I encountered this article about meetings between Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore, two individuals who I have admired for many years, and for some reason I did not ever encounter this information about their meetings. These two men were clearly on different paths, … Continue reading Scientists and Spiritual Thinkers
This most recent effort in producing video content has been the most challenging of the series, for a number of reasons, and the software I'm using continues to provide a fair amount of aggravation as I worked at putting it all together, but I think the result is interesting enough considering the subject, in spite … Continue reading Consciousness Video Series: Episode 7: A Theory of Everything
During my recent sojourn into the wilderness, I took advantage of the opportunities provided by several days of inclement weather to catch up on reading a book by science journalist and Yale professor, Carl Zimmer, entitled “Life’s Edge.” Several of my recent encounters with the natural world have brought the title of his book vividly … Continue reading Life’s Edges
While reviewing my personal journals this month, I was surprised to come across a lengthy account of a particularly intense episode during one of my ventures within, which I had set aside a few months ago. I generally prefer to review my writing after some time has passed, as I frequently find the routine of … Continue reading Consciousness Video Series: Episode 6: Metaphor and the Inner Experience
I recently presented a brief video episode about our experience of life, https://johns-consciousness.com/2022/03/26/consciousness-video-series-episode-3-experience-of-the-world/ and wanted to elaborate on the topic of our experiential awareness a bit, since there seems to be a fair amount of variation in the understanding of how our experience of life comes about. This is a fairly broad topic and I … Continue reading Our Experience of Life
Every year as the weather becomes milder and the seasonal changes begin in the early spring, although I await with much anticipation to see the blossoming of all the greenery and flora around my modest home, I also have to consider the tasks of straightening up and clearing out of the overgrown plants and ivy … Continue reading Spiritual Spring Cleaning
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