This has got to be a put-on. Either that, or someone has been ingesting
controlled substances.
Bob Rogland
-----Original Message-----
From: Fairhaven <legacypr@lucernevalley.net>
To: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Friday, August 17, 2001 2:32 PM
Subject: mystical experience
>
>A SYSTEMS THEORY MODEL OF THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE: WITH INSIGHTS INTO THE
>SUPERNATURAL REALM
>
>A new model of motivational behavior, described as a ten-level,
>meta-hierarchy of the major groupings of virtues, values, and ideals,
serves
>as the foundation for a new holistic theory of ethics and morality, with
>applications to the mystical experience. This innovation arises as a direct
>outcome of the Systems Theory concept of the metaperspective (a
higher-order
>perspective upon the viewpoint held by another). These traditional
groupings
>of ethical terms are collectively arrayed as subsets within such a
hierarchy
>of metaperspectives, each more abstract listing building in a direct
fashion
>upon that which it supersedes. Take, for example, the cardinal virtues
>(prudence-justice-temperance-fortitude), the theological virtues
>(faith-hope-charity-decency), and the classical Greek values
>(beauty-truth-goodness-wisdom). Each of these groupings is split into a
>complex of four subordinate terms, allowing for precise, point-for-point
>stacking within the ethical hierarchy. When additional groupings of ethical
>terms are further added into the mix: namely, the personal ideals
>(glory-honor-dignity-integrity), the civil liberties
>(providence-liberty-civility-austerity), the humanistic values
>(peace-love-tranquility-equality), and the mystical values
>(ecstasy-bliss-joy-harmony), amongst others; the complete ten level
>hierarchy of metaperspectives emerges in full detail, partially reproduced
>in the table immediately below:
>
>
> GLORY--------PRUDENCE
> PROVIDENCE------FAITH
> GRACE----------BEAUTY
> TRANQUILITY---ECSTASY
>
>
> HONOR---------JUSTICE
> LIBERTY----------HOPE
> FREE WILL-------TRUTH
> EQUALITY--------BLISS
>
>
> DIGNITY----TEMPERANCE
> CIVILITY------CHARITY
> MAGNANIMITY--GOODNESS
> LOVE--------------JOY
>
>
> INTEGRITY---FORTITUDE
> AUSTERITY-----DECENCY
> EQUANIMITY-----WISDOM
> PEACE---------HARMONY
>
>
> This cohesive hierarchy of virtues, values, and ideals proves
>exceedingly comprehensive in scope, accounting for many major ethical terms
>celebrated within the Western ethical tradition. Indeed, it is easy to gain
>a sense of the trend towards increasing abstraction when scanning each of
>the individually depicted columns from top to bottom. Furthermore, this
>cohesive ethical hierarchy mirrors the specialization of personal, group,
>spiritual, humanitarian, and transcendental realms within human society in
>general: which when further specialized into both authority and follower
>roles, accounts for the complete ten-level hierarchy of ethical terms.
>
>SPECULATIONS INTO THE SUPERNATURAL REALM
>
> The highest level of the mystical values (ecstasy-bliss-joy-harmony)
>represents the most abstract (nameable) realm of the power hierarchy: any
>further extension of this hierarchial format necessarily specifying the
>existence of an even more abstract level of authority; namely, that
>transcending transcendental authority. Although such an unprecedented
>conceptual undertaking would certainly stretch the limits of abstract
>sensibility, any such upper limit to the power hierarchy must strictly be a
>practical one; e.g., when the level of abstraction finally exceeds the
>capacity of the intellect to distinguish the individual affective
dimensions
>(precluding their incorporation into the collective language culture).
> The observed blending of meanings at the very highest levels of the
>hierarchy of values would seem to suggest precisely such an upper
conceptual
>limit to the power hierarchy. Indeed, beginning with the transcendental
>level of authority, the respective listing of humanistic values
>(peace-love-tranquility-equality) all exhibit a fair degree of
distinctness,
>even though some degree conceptual affinity was hinted at in their
>dictionary definitions. At the next higher, transcendental follower level,
>however, the mystical values (ecstasy-bliss-joy-harmony) all exhibit a much
>more dramatic degree of conceptual affinity, as evident in definitions that
>are similar (if not synonymous) in form and function.
> Taking this trend to the limit, however, specifies the complete and
>irrevocable blending of meaning at the anticipated meta-meta-order level of
>transcendence. At this almost inconceivable level of abstraction, the four
>predicted affective dimensions should ultimately merge into a unified
>conceptual continuum, entirely unnamable except in the broadest of
>supernatural terms; i.e., God, the Absolute, etc. One experiencing this
>extreme level of transcendence would certainly be impressed by the
>paradoxical blending of emotional states, in direct contrast to the more
>concrete range of experience at the lower levels. In ordinary consciousness
>the mind is typically restricted to entertaining only one power maneuver
(or
>emotion) at any given time. In this supernatural dimension, however, the
>distinctions between the emotions would become so blurred as to merge into
a
>unified state; i.e., the one becomes the many, as so many mystics have
>reported down through the ages.
>This paradoxical experience of all-knowing consciousness has universally
>been documented using a wide range of designations; i.e., the Universal
>Mind, the Oversoul, The Great Spirit, Cosmic Consciousness, etc. All appear
>to serve as a primordial prototype for the continuum of lower (more
>differentiated) states. Indeed, the unified nature of this supreme
>perspective (by definition) encompasses all of the lower levels as subsets;
>hence, accounting for the corresponding flooding of the emotions. Herein
may
>lie the basis for the traditional Judeo-Christian belief that man is
created
>in the image and likeness of God. Ordinary consciousness (with its
>sequential limitations) is theorized to differentiate out of such an
>all-encompassing, primordial state. Indeed, at this highest "supernatural"
>level we are all "gods" in a sense, tuning into the Universal Mind as the
>sum-potentiality of all that is emotional in nature.
> Perhaps it is really only a matter of convention (devised by the
>ordinary mind) to regard God as a wholly separate entity. William James
>appears to make a similar point in the following quotation from The
>Varieties of Religious Experience: "This overcoming of all the usual
>barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystical
>achievement. In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we
>become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant
mystical
>tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed."
> Along similar lines, the spiritually minded can rightfully view the
>hierarchy of virtues and values as rooted directly in this supernatural
>realm; all power emanating from the supreme Godhead, the Creator of all
that
>is spiritual and material. According to this speculative scenario, all
>authority filters down from the supernatural realm, consistent with God's
>supreme role as the benevolent creative force behind all human endeavors.
>The individual traditions leading to enlightenment are not the crucial
>factor here, for as many a religious sage has noted: "many roads lead to
>heaven."
> Such a supernatural perspective underscores the supreme paradox of
the
>power hierarchy; namely, its openness at both its upper and lower margins.
>The lower end blends with the mysterious (materialistic) realm of
>instinctualism, whereas the upper end enters into the mystical realm of the
>supernatural. Although the limited human intellect favors such a dualistic
>interpretation, such a simplistic perspective (on a grander scale) might
>actually amount to a grand illusion! Is it truly possible to distinguish
the
>spiritual from the material, the mental from the physical? No matter how
one
>focuses this inquiry, the two always appear to remain intimately connected.
>As long as this mind-body puzzle remains unresolved, such issues must
>continue to remain open to speculation.
>
>Excerpt reproduced from A Revolution in Family Values: Spirituality for a
>New Millennium (c. 2001)
>
>John E. LaMuth M.S.
>Private Practice Counselor
>legacypr@sisp.net
>www.charactervalues.com
>
>
>
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