michaeldee (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} michaeldee) wrote,@ 2007-03-21 12:20:00 |
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In A Nutshell
Some people seem to be having a problem getting the point of The Secular Spirit. So, I thought I would say something here, as it were "for the record".
The Issue that religion has always been handling is the question: "What are the ultimate conditions of human existence?" In former ages this question had to be handled with the help of serious sedatives and produced numerous projections. The big interior confusion that religion always foundered on was not be able to distinguish between god and dad.
This question is still with us, and will always be. But, in the present age we are equipped to handle it without sedatives or projections. Since the "answer" to the question is interior, it requires interior awareness. There are many methods for this. The one I recommend I call "therapeutic mindfulness accompanied by a highly developed inner body sense." (p. 31)
This method is essentially the key technique of recently-developed methods of trauma treatment. My contention is that once you neutralize your trauma imprints, interior awareness becomes fully open to the ultimate conditions of your existence.
I would note as an afterthought that therapeutic mindfulness has only recently been "perfected", and so two techniques of interior awareness that get around pain have become widely used and, for most people, represent the default setting. One of them is the straightforward narcotic of religious ritual, and the other is a whole host of dissociative flights into fantasy and other forms of trance.
The challenge of the present age is to stay awake and get through to ground.
So, what ARE the ultimate conditions. . .?
Some people seem to be having a problem getting the point of The Secular Spirit. So, I thought I would say something here, as it were "for the record".
The Issue that religion has always been handling is the question: "What are the ultimate conditions of human existence?" In former ages this question had to be handled with the help of serious sedatives and produced numerous projections. The big interior confusion that religion always foundered on was not be able to distinguish between god and dad.
This question is still with us, and will always be. But, in the present age we are equipped to handle it without sedatives or projections. Since the "answer" to the question is interior, it requires interior awareness. There are many methods for this. The one I recommend I call "therapeutic mindfulness accompanied by a highly developed inner body sense." (p. 31)
This method is essentially the key technique of recently-developed methods of trauma treatment. My contention is that once you neutralize your trauma imprints, interior awareness becomes fully open to the ultimate conditions of your existence.
I would note as an afterthought that therapeutic mindfulness has only recently been "perfected", and so two techniques of interior awareness that get around pain have become widely used and, for most people, represent the default setting. One of them is the straightforward narcotic of religious ritual, and the other is a whole host of dissociative flights into fantasy and other forms of trance.
The challenge of the present age is to stay awake and get through to ground.
