From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Mon Mar 14 2005 - 00:18:19 GMT
Sam, Scott and all MOQers:
Sam said to Scott:
What I most disagree with in the discussion about mysticism and 'pure
experience' etc, is the Platonic notion that there has to be one common
factor between the different religions which serves as the definition of a
"mystical experience". I think that is a profoundly SOM interpretation. And
my rejection of that isn't due to special pleading for Christian belief, but
simply an acceptance of Wittgenstein's notion of family resemblance.
dmb says:
Doesn't his notion apply to words and their meanings? How do we transfer
that kind of assertion other than by analogy? I mean, the common element
that you would deny has been expressed many different forms, in different
languages, in different cultures. Its not that I am denying that words have
flexible and variable meanings. That just seems like common sense to me. Its
just that I don't see how this assertion is relevant in denying the
perennial philosophy. The perennial philosophy is not asserting a "Platonic
notion that there has to be one common factor". I'd say that is a wild
exaggeration of a very much simpler claim; that the perennial philosophy can
be found in the world's great religions. If you want to dispute the notion
that that is a mystical experience behind these various expressions, you'd
do much better to attack Huston Smith, Huxley, Leibniz, Cambell, Wilber or
some other thinker that is actually asserting it. (For example, Huxley said,
"Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary
lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully
developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions.") As I
understand it, this is not about forcing anyone to comply with a specific
definition of anything. Its based on what we observe when religions are
examined side by side. Its derived from data, if you will. Its a matter of
noticing features in the long view that are not noticable in the short view.
In fact, we can really see such notions first emerge in the Hellenistic
period, after Alexander's conquests, when such side by side comparisons were
not just available to those few "wise men" that traveled broadly for that
purpose. In this period one could visit the library at Alexandria instead,
as many did. This same sort of thing has become easy again in Modern times,
only more so. Leibniz may have coined the phrase "perennial philosophy" but
the idea is thousands of years older than that. You'd also need to explain
how this "is a profoundly SOM interpretation". How so?
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Mar 14 2005 - 00:23:42 GMT