This is an introduction to one of Ken Wilber’s most versatile ideas: his model of what he calls the Four Quadrants. As a formal structure, the four quadrants display a striking resemblance to a mandala. Wilber also speaks of his philosophy as “weaving a mandala of the many faces of Spirit.” My approach, therefore, will… Continue reading Ken Wilber’s Mandalic Model of Reality
Author: hyattcarter
Evolution of the Word in Paul and the Four Gospels
A foundational teaching of the New Testament is that God has declared that Jesus is the Son of God, thus affirming, on the highest authority, his divine nature. At what point in time, or during which event in the life of Jesus, is the declaration made? It turns out that there are four answers to… Continue reading Evolution of the Word in Paul and the Four Gospels
Preface to “Process and Reality”
By Alfred North Whitehead These lectures are based upon a recurrence to that phase of philosophic thought which began with Descartes and ended with Hume. The philosophic scheme which they endeavor to explain is termed the “Philosophy of Organism.” There is no doctrine put forward which cannot cite in its defense some explicit statement of… Continue reading Preface to “Process and Reality”
Buddhologian
As you already may have guessed, a Buddhologian is the Eastern equivalent of what we in the West call a theologian. Why the need for a special term? For Buddhists, Buddhologian is le mot juste for a Buddhist scholar for one simple reason: the Greek root theo– in “theologian” means “God.” Unlike Christianity, Judaism, or… Continue reading Buddhologian
FunGuys
Mushrooms are fungi that are so present throughout nature as to be ubiquitous. Underground, out of sight, and in the fecund darkness, they weave a “Wood Wide Web” that forms a communication nexus with the roots of many plants. “While mushrooms might be the most familiar part of a fungus, most of their bodies are… Continue reading FunGuys
The Order of Actualization
Process thought holds that there is divine input, continuous but variable divine influence, in every new moment for all the natural unities throughout the universe. Such influence (Whitehead calls them “initial aims”) is variable because each individual is unique and the aim must take into account the gestalt of each unique perspective and so tailor… Continue reading The Order of Actualization
Positive Thinking in Ancient China
During the Shang dynasty in China, which began some 32 centuries ago, a form of religious divination was used for prediction, and also to make things happen, such as healing of sickness and control of weather. It was called Oracle Bone Inscription. The bone of choice on which the inscriptions were incised was the flat… Continue reading Positive Thinking in Ancient China
Laughing Out Loud with Dr. James Watson
My late good friend James Watson, a notable Faulkner scholar and a PhD (“doctor”) who taught lively morning classes in literature at the University of Tulsa for many years, shared with me the following in an email: “Had I had the velcro memory for math and chemistry that I apparently did for poetry, I might… Continue reading Laughing Out Loud with Dr. James Watson
A Golden Trinity of Values
Quite early one morning it occurred to me that the rational criteria of “coherence” and “adequacy” clearly exemplify the archetypal theme of the many and the one: adequacy to the many facts of experience, and coherence as conceptual unity. Therefore, after imaginative leaps and bounds, and speculative flights, when you reason things through and assay… Continue reading A Golden Trinity of Values
Möbius Strip Tease
A mathematician confided That a Möbius strip is one-sided. You’ll get quite a laugh If you cut it in half, For it stays in one piece when divided. A Möbius strip is made by giving a strip of paper a half-twist and then gluing or taping the ends together. Even though it looks like it has two sides and… Continue reading Möbius Strip Tease