Wake Up! The Social Construction of Sleep

insomnia by Jonathan Jacobsen

Copyright © Michael Clark 2010. All rights reserved.

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying.
It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.

–Dale Carnegie

It’s 2:42 a.m.

A short while ago I was awakened by two cats howling outside my window. Unable to get back to my slumbers, it seemed like a good time to write about the social construction of sleep.¹

Sleep is a wonderful restorative. The ancient Greeks extolled its virtues as a sacred salve releasing mankind from diurnal cares. And Sigmund Freud called dreams the “royal road to the unconscious.”

Freud’s brightest student, Carl Jung, was equally interested in dreams. Jung felt that our nighttime productions compensated for and guided daytime activity toward a greater, integrated sense of meaning.

Sleep Deprivation and Snake Oils

The Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo had another view. He said sleep is a sluggish, inferior form of consciousness that is best conquered through intense meditation. In fact, Aurobindo claimed to have overcome the need for sleep. Similarly, Christian monks tend to get less sleep than the average layperson.

But on a physiological level, sleep is important. The body synthesizes proteins faster in the cerebral cortex and retina during sleep hours, enhancing growth and restoration.² Sleep deprivation actually impairs the functioning of the cerebral cortex, the newest portion of the brain in evolutionary terms.

It’s been repeatedly demonstrated that sleep deprivation has harmful effects on memory and contributes to anxiety and even paranoia. Keeping people sleepy is a great way to brainwash, manipulate or indoctrinate. No wonder cult leaders and political interrogators use sleep deprivation to weaken subjects into compliance.

In National Geographic a Harvard neuroscientist claims that US society (and by implication other so-called developed nations like Canada) is “tremendously sleep deprived.” If we don’t sleep well during the night, it’s usually recommended to nap, rest or meditate sometime during the day.

As for the latest sleep-inducing herbs and wonder-drugs, this is a clear case of buyer beware. Scammers more concerned with making money than helping others often have a clever sales pitch (one which postmodern deconstructionists would have a field day with).

For instance, if you don’t get a solid eight hours every night these unscrupulous sellers say you have an illness.³ Then you’re informed that substance X (which they happen to market) is just the thing for you, this being supported by a host of quasi-scientific claims. Your saving medicine may be an extract, a herb or perhaps some other costly snake oil–all to make you healthier, happier and more productive.⁴

This, of course, is an extreme scenario, one facilitated by cheesy web marketing. On the other hand, there is solid scientific research in support of the responsible use of some herbs and extracts. Healing with herbs is also advocated in the Old Testament (Sirach 38: 1-15) and many people swear by their benefits.

At the same time, however, a CBC Marketplace documentary suggests that we usually don’t know the full long-term side effects of many herbs (the idea of ’side effects’ arguably being a euphemism for unhealthy effects).

To ingest herbs and oils merely on the reassuring word of an absolute stranger seems unwise. Hopefully mass media marketers of herbs and wonder-drugs will soon be integrated with reliable health officials to avoid some illnesses that may be aggravated by their products. A definite step in the right direction here seems to be the Adverse Drug Reaction Database.

Concerning the normative allopathic sleep medications available today, their use is often a compromise situation due to their oft-downplayed unhealthy and addictive effects. But in certain situations their use can be more positive than negative, providing these drugs are taken responsibly.

The red flag should go up, however, whenever anyone tries to make a fanatical religion out of any kind of treatment–those unimaginative perhaps fearful souls who cling to existing therapeutic frameworks while closing their minds to new possibilities.

New Age Fancies

Many leading New Age figures say the electric lights and general hubbub of modern society have disrupted our natural biorhythms, often called the Circadian rhythm. These pundits of the soul lament that we’ve severed some kind of sacred connection with the natural environment and our distant ancestors.

All this calls to mind romantic myths of the natural man, the natural woman and the noble savage.

But who can really say what’s natural and what’s not?⁵

Anthropological research suggests that Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals weren’t all that different from contemporary mankind. And they probably awoke in the dead of night much like we do in the 21st century.

Instead of fretting about money or health our ancestors likely worried about ambushes, wild beasts, storms and seasonal climate change.⁶ Indeed, this BBC story about Neanderthal violence seems to indicate that life in prehistoric times was no cakewalk.

To say that primitive mankind lived in some kind of stress-free, golden age replete with undisturbed nights seems more like New Age fiction than responsible history.

Transpersonal Connections

As to why we awake in the dead of night, in some cases this could be due to transpersonal connections.

The Catholic saint, Faustina Kowalska, for instance, wrote in her Divine Mercy Diary that she rose in the middle of the night in response to distressed souls in need of her prayerful intercession.

During the night, I was suddenly awakened and knew that some soul was asking me for prayer, and that it was in much need of prayer. Briefly, but with all my soul, I asked the Lord for grace for her.⁷

For some people this kind of scenario is difficult to understand. By way of analogy, it might help to imagine an intern always on call. Suppose there’s an emergency in the middle of the night and she is awakened by her cell. Again, many people today just cannot imagine let alone appreciate this dynamic. It’s far too subtle for the ordinary person steeped in conventional wisdom and a historically relative vision of the universe and beyond.

In many folks’ minds saints like Sister Faustina would be a fanatic or ill. And the tormented souls for whom she intercedes are just figments of her imagination or hallucinations. Sadly, this kind of thinking seems to have crept into certain corners of the contemporary Catholic Church too, a place where a bona fide mystic such as St. Faustina could at one time be just what she was called to be–a contemplative saint.⁸

Most, however, must hold 9 to 5 jobs to maintain a desired standard of living for themselves and perhaps their families. These people are necessary to industrial society and it’s probably in their best interest to do everything possible to maintain a nighttime sleep pattern.

But let’s not suppose for a minute that this is the natural way when arguably it’s just a choice to participate in a highly conditioned social order, one relative to certain historical moments and locations.

Consider, for instance, India or South America. In these cultures a daytime nap is largely built-in to the fabric of life. In the afternoon stores close down, shutters are drawn and most everybody sleeps.

In the West, leading figures like Mozart, Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley and James Joyce took advantage of the late night hours. Likewise, Jesus Christ prayed through the night.

It’s hard to imagine what kind of world we’d have if these great individuals hadn’t let go of the conventional mores of their time.

By the same token, not everyone is a born artist, politician or spiritual leader. Moreover, it seems only a relative few are able to stand aside and see beyond their culture. In fact, getting a solid eight hours sleep can be quite pleasant. It can be reassuring to fit in with one’s real or imagined status quo, as we did in childhood.

But for most of us childhood is over and it’s time to consider alternatives, especially if our socially constructed understanding of the ‘good night sleep’ isn’t happening any more. Waking up in the middle of the night – or just staying up late – could be seen as an opportunity for productivity and enhanced creativity.

For all we know, it might even be essential to the new global community.

Notes

1. For those unfamiliar with the idea of the ’social construction of reality,’ see Berger and Luckman’s sociological benchmark.

2. It’s conceivable that Sri Aurobindo created these metabolic conditions while meditating, but on this we can’t be sure.

3. Readers interested in the notion of the ‘medical gaze’ are referred to Michel Foucault’s The Birth of the Clinic.

4. Manufacturing and sales departments of allopathic and homeopathic substances tend to downplay the negative short and long-term side effects–side-effects arguably being a euphemism for unhealthy effects. And selling consumable substances on the basis of a partial or skewed reporting of results is scientifically unsound. Along these lines, an internal FDA study suggests that about 2/3 of FDA scientists have lost confidence in that agency’s ability to protect the public from potentially harmful substances. See “Inside the FDA,” CBS.news.com, December 16, 2004:  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/26/health/main638721.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories

5. The idea of the natural can be critiqued from sociological, philosophical and theological perspectives. Meanwhile, some maintain that the natural is qualitatively different from the volitional and the spiritual.

6. Ronald Wright’s discussion in A Short History of Progress is worthwhile; part one is freely available in audio here.

7. Divine Mercy in My Soul, p. 319. While the transfer of anxiety may not always be as clear and apparent as with the example of an achieved saint, it seems reasonable to suggest that everyone may be open, in varying capacities, to the ebb and flow of collective emotions and other psycho-spiritual qualities and experiences. In Indian philosophy, this points toward the idea of karma transfer, as outlined by Indologist Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty in The Origins of Evil In Hindu Mythology. C. G Jung and other transpersonal psychologists such as S. Grof similarly speak of syntonic countertransference.

8. (a) Not to ignore the possibility of spiritual deception. Please see ETs, UFOs and the Psychology of Belief and related articles at earthpages.org and earthpages.ca dealing with the idea of discernment. (b) The Church’s organizational structure stresses that the clergy conform (and to some degree laypersons) to a relatively narrow range of officially sanctioned modes of worship and service. And perhaps in an attempt to be ‘modern’ and receptive to the scientific establishment, the Church seems to uncritically embrace some of the more spurious scientific truth claims circulating today. This is no abstract point. In keeping with Michel Foucault’s thinking, giving credence to questionable discourses may have potentially harmful effects on individuals and society.

The Qualiasphere

Dolphin Crest: Steve Jurvetson

by TONY BRUSSAT

Welcome to the qualiasphere.

According to Wikipedia, the first photosynthetic organisms changed the Earth forever when they began to oxygenate the atmosphere about 2,400 million years ago. The new atmosphere allowed the evolution of complex life, and what we now call the biosphere.

Complex organisms have been reacting to qualia for a long, long time, for it is qualia that attracts their senses to sources of food, to mates, etc. Only in the last 100,000 years (to put it generously) have some animals taken notice of internal qualia. That is, humans, dolphins, whales, and perhaps some other species, have become self-conscious.

And the qualiasphere was born…

Much of the evolution of complex life depends upon the qualiadelic relationships between living organisms – mutual attractions in which both organisms evolve together. When the relationship stabilizes and evolution slows to more or less of a halt, it becomes a symbiotic relationship, as we learned in biology 101.

But the age of self-consciousness in animals has only begun. We are only at the beginning of an incredible evolutionary growth-spurt because of the qualiadelic relationships we are developing with intuition and our thoughts. As humans, we have only developed the complex symbol systems of language in the last 15,000 years. We are very young.

Yet, in a mere 15,000 years of communicating with symbols we have generated a new element into our cozy planet. The atmosphere and the biosphere are now supplemented by the qualiasphere. Everything we see around us is a part of a symbolic world, in addition to the physical world.

The symbolic world is nothing more than our ideas and intuitions made manifest. Houses, cars and banks; forests, farms and glaciers; wars, pollutants and diseases – all are symbols filling up the qualiasphere as well as realities populating the physical world.

Alas, our young qualiasphere has become polluted with things. It is at risk of becoming spoiled altogether, before ever having a chance to truly blossom.

As most scientists and artists realize, the beautiful is synonymous with the good. “Truth is beauty, beauty truth,” sang the poet Keats. The most powerful scientific theories are, by definition, simple and symmetrical.

Qualiadelic theory is simple enough. It is not too different from the law of attraction, in that how we express ourselves echoes back to us our intuitions and ideas – our songs. Unfortunately, humans express themselves by manipulating the world, killing, destroying and raping in order to create. That is not good karma.

The whales and dolphins sing, undistracted by any compulsion to harm the environment. They are in harmony, not just with the biosphere and the atmosphere, but with the qualiasphere, which stretches into the cosmos beyond our planet, beyond our consciousness, and into the furthest realms of the imagination.

Can we stop the human cacaphony long enough to listen to the music of the spheres? Shall we evolve ourselves or will we settle into a limited symbiotic relationship with our dying Earth?

Be Qualiadelic. Be Conscious. Change the routine.

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Blind Leading the Blind

like a drunk... in a midnight choir...

Blind Leading the Blind
by Anagarika Eddie Rock

If we become involved in preaching to others or teaching religion before experiencing Ultimate Truth first hand for ourselves, we teach from ego and not true compassion. Only when we personally touch Ultimate Truth with all its subtleties does universal love replace ambition. Then, our only concern is the residue of hatred and competitiveness that still may remain within ourselves, and the suffering of our fellow human beings that is now so clear to us.

One who teaches, yet has not experienced Ultimate Truth, is in effect faking it. They know that they are faking it. They pretend otherwise, however, so that support will be provided by the faithful. This is grand deception at the cruelest level.

The fakers lifestyle usually gives them away. They simply do not have the restraint that an experience of Ultimate Truth imparts upon a teacher, an attitude of humility and humbleness as a result of touching this great, Ultimate Truth. The pretender, alas, still believes that they are the center of the universe. They can’t keep the pretending up for long, however, because their underlying desires will give them away every time.

Touching Ultimate truth does a number on the true teacher. Desires fade away and lifestyles becomes very simplified and ordinary. This is not because of some meaningless austerity, i.e. trying to prove that they are holy or some such nonsense, but because of something much deeper. They simply lose interest in the playthings of the world just as a little girl puts away her dolls or a little boy his toy trucks. They grow up, and their attitudes change.

This restraint is also reflected in the true teacher’s words, which are always truthful and insightful and never straying from the central theme of spirituality by helping people find their own ultimate truth. They might talk about politics or business but only from the viewpoint of politics’ and business’ hypnotic effects that keeps one from ever experiencing Ultimate Truth for themselves.

So the restraint exhibited by a true teacher is not some kind of grandstanding, but a reflection of the peace and gentleness of mind that was instilled by touching Ultimate Truth.

Conversely, the pretender’s speech will consist of second hand information and quotes from other sources other than from their hearts. This is because, not yet having touched Ultimate Truth, their hearts are still caught in the world of forms and excitement. It can even get to the point of losing interest in spirituality all together and jumping into politics or business related discussions in order to attract more supporters. That is a certain give away that the teacher is faking it. Without restraint caused by an authentic religious experience, the true colors eventually come out because pretenders cannot duck their karma forever. They can only pretend for so long.

These kinds of teachers can be quite dangerous. Many people who can’t see through these people blindly follow them. They are usually people not equipped to think for themselves, resulting in a quintessential predicament of the blind leading the blind. This is where the danger comes in because blind people may drink the Cool Aid, or go off the deep end politically. Thus we have the extremist groups of religion and ideology that creates so much hatred and suffering in the world today.

We usually develop our particular religious and idealistic beliefs based upon our heritage, our own experiences, our level of awareness, and on our particular ideas of spirituality based on what we hear and read in church or through the media. As these beliefs become personalized and solidified, we dig in our heels and it becomes increasingly difficult to change our conclusions. If we have formed these conclusions before we have had that consciousness shifting epiphany that changes our perspective from one of ambition to love, then we set out to spread the word as pretenders. This is the basis of the vast majority of teachers and preachers.

The problem is that although proselytizing is effective in uneducated, poverty stricken third-world countries or among the very young, it is not so successful with mature adults in educated, discerning societies. Discerning individuals have enough confidence to think for themselves. Are Christians open to becoming Muslim? Are Buddhists tripping over each other to convert to Catholicism? Not really. We are mostly satisfied and comfortable with our own particular beliefs.

If we are secure within those beliefs and find that loving kindness and virtue result from practicing our religion, we tend to be happy and quietly live our own religion, leaving others alone. We don‘t worry about converting them, confident that they will find their own way depending on their inclinations and level of consciousness. But if we, who quietly practice our own religion without fanfare or notoriety, are disrespected, then there is a backlash.

What we are seeing in the world today is sectarian, fundamentalist aggressiveness in many religions. This is troubling. We are seeing more and more of it; from sects such as the Taliban, to the proponents of a 6,000 year old earth. Religions, per se, which are perceived to be based on gentleness and peace, seem to be moving toward political, aggressive agendas, all fueled by teachers and preachers who are pretenders of the Ultimate Truth.

Please. This is not in any way a disparagement of true spirituality or many religious followers, but simply a reflection, an observation, and a chance for overzealous proponents of various movements to perhaps take a long look at themselves. Not only at themselves, but perhaps at other religions as well from an attitude of respect rather than judgment; a respect for the peaceful and truthful ideals of all religions. Then, maybe we can find a gentler, more respectful, more peaceful way to spread our particular, sectarian doctrines by example instead of causing self-inflicted animosity. Religious beliefs shouldn’t spin out of control into war. War is not love; war reflects fear.

There are good, wholesome, and harmonious qualities in all religions where a common ground can be found. It begins by accepting different beliefs that foster peace and harmony and finding that peace among ourselves instead of competing with each other, even spiritual, idealistic competition which is of the most dangerous kind. This is the beginning of living together in harmony.

Be sure that you can trust your teacher. Look them over carefully; their lifestyle, their attitudes, and especially their compassion. Are they caring and relaxed; or are they restless and ambitious? Choose them as carefully as you would choose a mate, because their influence might affect your every relationship.

And if you are not sure about them, better to strike out on your own.

—

Anagarika eddie is a meditation teacher at the Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation Retreat Sanctuary www.dhammarocksprings.org and author of A Year to Enlightenment. His 30 years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Thervada Buddhist monk.

He lived at Wat Pah Nanachat under Ajahn Chah, at Wat Pah Baan Taad under Ajahn Maha Boowa, and at Wat Pah Daan Wi Weg under Ajahn Tui. He had been a postulant at Shasta Abbey, a Zen Buddhist monastery in northern California under Roshi Kennett; and a Theravada Buddhist anagarika at both Amaravati Monastery in the UK and Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand, both under Ajahn Sumedho. The author has meditated with the Korean Master Sueng Sahn Sunim; with Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia; and with the Tibetan Master Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. He has also practiced at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the Zen Center in San Francisco.

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Parapraxes, Accidents and Necessary Mistakes

A life spent making mistakes is better than a life spent doing nothing: sara b.

Copyright © 2009 Michael Clark. All rights reserved.

Parapraxes is an unusual word that might intimidate those unfamiliar with psychoanalytic theory. But it’s a pretty simple idea.

In the Psychopathology of Everyday Life Freud says parapraxes are unintentional acts resulting from an unconscious wish, desire, attitude or thought (London: Penguin, 2002 [1901]).

Parapraxes could involve forgetting names and sequences of words but classic examples are slips of the pen or tongue.

Imagine someone at a cocktail party accidentally saying “I love your horse” instead of “I love your house.”

For Freud the hidden meaning of a parapraxis points to the person making the slip. In the above example he or she could be an avid equestrian or possibly an intensely sexual person, the horse being a well-known symbol for virility. Indeed, Freud attributed tremendous significance to the libido.

C. G. Jung was once Freud’s protege and tried to develop the idea of parapraxes with the concept of the shadow. For Jung the shadow has both personal and collective aspects. An irruption of shadow contents into daytime activities could stem from an unresolved personal complex, the larger forces of the collective unconscious¹ or some combination of the two.

Jung significantly differed from Freud in his belief that unintended slips don’t always exclusively refer to the person making them. Parapraxes can point to an entire situation among several or even many people.

Charles Brenner, M.D. believes that parapraxes have profound implications. Although we may dismiss accidents and mistakes as mere flukes brought on by stress, distraction, sleep deprivation or malnutrition, Brenner says “in the mind, as in physical nature around us, nothing happens by chance, or in a random way” (Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis, New York: Anchor Books, 1957, p.2).

The difference between healthy and unhealthy attitudes about parapraxes hinges on whether or not we learn from them.² If an accident or mistake isn’t too serious, with a few hours of reflection we can usually figure out why we goofed and how we might avoid similar problems in the future.

An unhealthy attitude, however, would be something along the lines of “I’m no good. Why do I always keep messing up? Life stinks and so do I.” Another unhealthy attitude would be aggressive denial: “I don’t have time for this. I don’t give a damn anyhow.” Or perhaps childish self-aggrandizement, “He’s just an idiot. I’m superior to him so can do whatever I please.”

How we respond to our mistakes is crucial.

Jung believed the self is on a natural trajectory toward wholeness. Nature heals and corrects; and since mankind sprung from nature, Jung maintained that increased awareness enhances our mastery over the environment. For Jungians, then, self-knowledge means more confidence, vitality and sense of meaning.

However, Jung’s perspective seems to overlook the theological ideas of grace, spirit and providence. Jung does, indeed, use the word “grace” in his Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York: Vintage, 1965, p. 40) and he also says numinosity plays a key role in the deeper aspects of psychological development. But can we really know if the types of numinosity Jung talks about are of the same quality and texture as bona fide grace?

On this point some Christian fundamentalists have gone whole hog and utterly demonized Jung.

Even Satan, so Christian theologians say, comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).³ But rather than demonize Jung it seems that the mature option is to carefully discern spiritual experiences and stay open to the possibility that something better might be just around the bend (Jacques Guillet et al., The Discernment of Spirits, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1970, p. 110; Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, New York: New American Library, 1955, p. 361; William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, London: Penguin, 1985, p. 423).

Along these lines Jung wrote that numinosity isn’t a single type of experience. It’s manifold; and some forms of numinosity are said to be healing and others destructive.

But, again, we can’t be sure just what Jung was talking about because numinosity as a personal experience seems near impossible to compare among individuals and, moreover, difficult to publicly verify.

The Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade recognized this problem while comparing a dazzling array of world religions and their respective mystics, yogis, saints and shamans. Eliade felt it was far too simplistic to assume that all seekers experience the same kind of inner light (Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, New Jersey: Bollingen, 1969, p. 339).

Eliade also questioned whether Jungian theory was accurate to the data studied or, especially with regard to alchemy, a superimposition of Jung’s own brand of thinking onto ancient manuscripts, myths and religious ideas (The Forge and the Crucible, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978, p. 196).

Assuming Jung is right that psychological development may entail parapraxes, accidents, mistakes and even numinosity^,4 why, one might ask, would mistakes be necessary?

Answering this question could involve several different approaches.

Jung, himself, believed that psychological complexes have a life of their own. Just as marine life is easy to forget from the surface, the moment we swim in the sea the charms and potential dangers of underwater creatures become quite real.

Remember the movie Jaws? So it is, Jung says, with the contents of the unconscious–particularly the collective unconscious. Ignore or repress the unconscious and it returns full-force.

In trying to answer why mistakes might in some odd way be necessary, a believer in reincarnation – and let’s not forget that it is a belief – might speak to the alleged truth and related effects of karma theory and reincarnation.⁵

Catholics, on the other hand, believe that God permits parapraxes, accidents and mistakes for some good reason, such as the restoration of humility, this being essential for true spirituality.

Jung too speaks of deflating the bubble of excessive egoism. But for Jung this is a natural process directed toward psychological integration – a union of opposites – instead of something permitted by God for personal humility and for the development of the high degree of purity required for heavenly life.

Jung himself notes this difference, suggesting, particularly with Protestant Christianity, that its Trinitarian symbols are upwardly skewed and overly masculine. He also contends that Protestantism ignores the fourth element of the shadow as well as an ‘eternally feminine’ (anima) aspect of the self, the latter being present in Catholicism to some degree with Papal dogmas about the Virgin Mary.

Regardless of how we explain mistakes, it seems they’re almost inevitable because inferior psychological contents eventually express themselves. If not recognized, integrated and articulated in a healthy way, these inferior contents usually force their way, slip or perhaps are permitted out. ⁶ And these intrusions and eruptions may occur during moments of solitude or within the complicated dynamics of relationship.

As imperfect beings living in a world tarnished by hypocrisy, exploitation and mindless violence, it seems we’re bound to feel the stress at some level and encounter parapraxes, accidents and mistakes. Whether or not we learn from them makes all the difference.

It might even play a role in humanity’s survival into the 22nd century.

Notes

1. Daryl Sharp’s Jung Lexicon defines this and many other concepts with excerpts from Jung’s work.

2. Some say that even tragedies may ultimately be viewed in a positive light. For examples of this perspective, see There Are No Accidents: In All Things Trust in God (Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. with John Bishop, 2004) and A Step Further: Growing Closer to God Through Hurt and Hardship (Joni Eareckson Tada, 1980).

3. “Satan Comes as an Angel of Light.“ Talk like this often pushes a few buttons. Some get upset perhaps because unresolved complexes are activated. Meanwhile some Christians self-righteously dismiss all things perceived as non-Christian. Surely both extremes are to be avoided or possibly redirected. But redirection usually takes time. It also requires a degree of psychological maturity and a great deal of patience. Sometimes the exigencies of life mean we just have to move on until things hopefully sort themselves out.

4. Jung says it also involves synchronicity but this is beyond the scope of this article.

5. I find this limiting. In my view far too many believers in reincarnation have a few (or many) unusual experiences and don’t stop to consider that their interpretation of inner events may be unduly colored by underlying assumptions, desires and beliefs. For alternatives to the theory of reincarnation, see Farewell to Karma and Reincarnation: A New Look at an Old Idea.

6. Philosophically speaking we’re touching on the idea of teleology and in theology, soteriology. Teleology refers to the belief that creation moves or is directed toward some logical endpoint. Soteriology has to do with the belief in a divine plan, the afterlife and personal salvation.

Michael Clark, Ph.D. is the administrator of earthpages.org and earthpages.ca. His varied interests focus on human potential in the 21st century and beyond. Connect with Michael at Twitter and Facebook.

Reincarnation: A New Look at an Old Idea – Part 1

Pretty sure I'm paying for some sins I committed in a past life, this week. Photo by J. Star

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Reincarnation is the belief that the soul travels from one life form to another.

It is often understood as the soul leaving the body at the point of death and, not too long after, taking a new birth.

However, in most Asian religions the reincarnating soul may spend a considerable amount of time in astral realms before returning to an Earthly body.

Does reincarnation make sense?

The theory of reincarnation hinges on the notion of karma. Opponents say that karma theory is an easy way to create meaning out of a sometimes harsh and unjust world or perhaps to rationalize bad habits and personal weaknesses.

Meanwhile, believers say karma theory is rational–it makes sense and is based on knowledge instead of blind faith.¹

Statements like the above send up a red flag for those not adhering to reincarnation theory. Opponents to reincarnation say the immense and awesome workings of God cannot be reduced to human theories like karma and reincarnation, nor may the divine mystery be fully understood through reason alone.

In the Jewish and Christian prophetic traditions God’s workings are said to supersede our human psychological projections, imaginings and philosophical systems. Moreover, God is not understood as God’s creation, a popular idea in New Age circles where “The Universe” is synonymous with ultimate reality (philosophers call this perspective natural pantheism).

The voice of God (as Yahweh) speaking to the Jewish prophets illustrates the difference between natural pantheism and the belief in God as supreme Creator of the universe.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways
And my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55: 8-9).

Likewise in the Book of Job, Yahweh poses a series of questions to emphasize Job’s human limitations.

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have understanding?
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the chords of Orion? (Job 38:4, 31).

Job is a “blameless servant” who, nevertheless, undergoes intense suffering. While this is not the place for a theological discussion about this thought-provoking book of the Bible, it’s enough to say that Job is reminded of the inestimable value of humility.

—

¹ In some models of reincarnation God’s grace may override bad karma, which arguably is a faith position.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Copyright © Michael Clark. All rights reserved.

Review – Images and Symbols by Mircea Eliade

Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols - Fair Use

This is the last of a long line of books by the celebrated Romanian scholar, Mircea Eliade, that have found their way into my library.

I’ve been familiar with Images and Symbols for quite some time, having browsed its pages at libraries and first run bookstores before finding an inexpensive secondhand copy.

For years I found the chapter “The ‘God Who Binds’” compelling. Here Eliade points out that the ‘binding of evil’ motif isn’t peculiar to the Christian story. However, each religious tradition has its own unique spin on the idea of knots and cords.

Some say it’s all about liberation–an untying or release from the bonds of karma, or an escape from hell or the symbolic labyrinth of the unconscious.

Other traditions more closely resemble the Christian story when telling of magically or, perhaps, spiritually binding fallen angels, demons and other invisible reprobates and sending them down below or away where they belong.

But there’s a lot more to this book than knots and cords.

The section “The Symbolism of Shells” is diverse and intriguing, as is Eliade’s treatment of the motifs of “The Center” and “Time and Eternity.”

Instead of separating religion and myth from history, Eliade makes every attempt to locate sacred stories within the cultural contexts that, at least in part, produce them.

Images and Symbols compares but does not superficially equate different world religions. This is particularly evident in the second paragraph of p. 166, where schematic similarities are noted but inner experiences are said to differ among some of the major religious traditions.

Here one could ask how Eliade knows they differ. And this is a tricky problem for religious studies and phenomenology in general. Be that as it may, I’m not convinced it’s an insoluble one.

All in all, a great book. One I’m happy to have added to my Eliade collection.

–MC

Krishna, Buddha and Christ: The same or different? (Part 4)

Reclining Buddha

Copyright © Michael Clark. All rights reserved.

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War and Peace

When interpreted literally, the Gita says Arjuna shouldn’t be despondent because his killing is in accord with God’s will.

If Arjuna detaches himself from his feelings bad karma will not arise from his violence. Most Hindus would probably say Arjuna’s not angry. If anything, he’s at first reluctant, almost like a Hamlet who just can’t muster up the gumption to act.

Ultimately, Arjuna’s just doing his duty for God, fulfilling his dharma as a kshatriya, a member of the warrior caste.

The Gita and the New Testament present two remarkably different pictures.

God as Krishna in the Gita exhorts Arjuna to engage in violence while God as Jesus in the New Testament says merely being angry is tantamount to being a murderer worthy of hellfire. In other words, Jesus says don’t even consider violence (1 John 3:15).

But the New Testament goes even further. It calls upon believers to love their enemies, turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute them.

Because the New Testament doesn’t advocate the belief in reincarnation, Christians should try their best to lead good lives, here and now–and not in ten, twenty or a hundred lifetimes down the road.

There’s a difference in both emphasis and direction between these two texts that’s hard to overlook.

The Gita affords violence a sort of mythic grandeur, obscuring the ugly realities of blood and gore with ethereal prose and metaphysical justifications, while the New Testament clearly directs believers away from violence.

For Jesus Christ, at least, the Jesus of the New Testament, the violence of man against man is simply unacceptable.

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Krishna, Buddha and Christ: The same or different? (Part 2)

Reclining Buddha

Copyright © Michael Clark. All rights reserved.

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Violence and the Just War

With so many different schools, scriptures and interpretations of scripture within Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, one might wonder how anything meaningful can be said about Krishna, Buddha and Christ.

There’s always a counterexample, it seems. If we say Jesus is about love, one could cite the Catholic Church’s teaching about the so-called Just War. If we say Krishna is all about killing as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita, one might refer to the Mahabharata, the massive epic in which the Gita appears:

This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. (Mahabharata 5, 15, 17)

One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire. (Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, 113.8)

And a popular Hindu myth has Krishna sporting with milkmaids, symbolizing the playfulness and love through which God enters the soul.

Buddhist scriptures speak of peace and non-violence, and Buddhism is often hailed as a non-violent path. But Moojan Momen points out that scriptural, philosophical and folkloric justifications for violence are found in the Buddhist tradition.† Bernard Faure also says that Buddhist doctrine has been adapted to justify war.

While there’s theological overlap among Krishna, Buddha and Christ and their respective religions, differences are also present.

I don’t intend to outline a comprehensive, detailed analysis of these three religions. This would take several volumes and even then would be incomplete. But a few salient points can be made.

Let’s begin with Krishna as he appears in the Bhagavad Gita.

The sacred scripture of the Gita is often hailed as the Hindu Bible, located, as I’ve noted, within the larger epic of the Mahabharata.

Some scholars see the Gita as a later addition to the Mahabharata, although nobody knows for sure just how or when the Gita originated.

Hindus and other people around the world love and admire the Gita because it’s said to synthesize all previous aspects of Hinduism within a coherent system, like a jewel set in the crown of this ancient religion.

It would be misleading to say that the Gita epitomizes a religion as vast and multifaceted as Hinduism but it certainly represents an important part of it.

Various attempts have been made to define Hinduism. While some say Hinduism has no dogma nor creeds, this is questionable.

The Himalayan academy summarizes three leading definitions of Hinduism:

In all definitions, the three pivotal beliefs for Hindus are karma, reincarnation and the belief in all-pervasive Divinity.

Again, this article is addressing Krishna as depicted in the Gita and not Hinduism as a whole. Along these lines, one definition of Hinduism, a judicial one drafted by the Indian Supreme Court in 1966 and affirmed in 1995, asserts the necessity of believing in the sanctity and truth of the Vedas, not the Gita.

While aspects of the Vedas affirm the ancient caste system and animal sacrifice, they’re intrinsically non-violent when it comes to human affairs.

The Gita, on the other hand, is mostly about good people being cheated by bad and the restoration of political, ethical and cosmic balance through the notion of sacred warfare.

If we focus on the Gita it might appear that, in some instances, killing for God is acceptable. After all peaceful attempts to resolve a disagreement have failed, the deity Krishna urges the reluctant hero, Arjuna, to fight. And Arjuna eventually becomes a slayer, par excellence.

But it’s not quite that simple because psychological interpretations of the Gita emphasize interpersonal dynamics and self-growth instead of physical violence.

The non-violent hero, Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, said the Gita could “untie any spiritual knot.” Here, the warfare depicted in the Gita is really about the struggle between light and dark, good and evil, superior and inferior.

This is a healthy interpretation that doesn’t advocate violence but addresses the realities of developmental struggle.

The psychiatrist C. G. Jung had a similar perspective in an entirely different context with his intensive psychological study of alchemy. For Jung, the inferior parts of the self are purified through suffering, symbolized by the intense heat applied to raw materials as the alchemists searched for the so-called “philosopher’s stone,” the alleged eternal aspect of the self.

A non-violent, psychological and holistic interpretation of the Gita and Jung’s take on alchemy both point to the idea of purification through suffering. However, the Gita could also be regarded as a text that legitimizes Holy War (or in Catholic terms, the Just War) but the idea of alchemy could not be twisted into a justification for physical violence. So this analogy only goes so far.

—

† Moojan Momen, The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach, Oxford: Oneworld, 1999, p. 410. For more on world religions and violence, see Crosscurrents.

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Holistic Beauty

Beauty by Nicola Rinaldi

Copyright © Galina Pembroke, 2009. All rights reserved.

Why beauty comes from within…

From tradition to trends, there’s always been a secret knowledge of the parallel between good health and beauty. The oldest of this knowledge may be found in the ancient science of Ayurvedic medicine.

Youth ends at 60

Dr. Scott Gerson, medical director of the National Institute of Ayurvedic medicine, writes that “According to Ayurveda, youth ends at 60. ” This contrasts dramatically with television images showing youthful vigor declining after 30. Isn’t this youthful vigor a measure of beauty? In Ayurvedic medicine, the key to this outer radiance is internal balance.

Part of this balance is obtaining health of both mind and body. The first step in attaining this goal is through detoxification. The Ayurvedic term for this is pancha karma. Generally this is aided or performed by clinical ayurvedic specialists. The treatments usually consist of a warm oil massage, special cleansing diets, lots of pure fresh water, breathing practices and meditation. After gaining basic knowledge of these steps through an ayurvedic specialist, we are encouraged to regularly use basic Ayurvedic grooming techniques. These consist of massaging oil to the body, bathing daily, rubbing the body with herbal bath powder and applying oil to scalp.

Massage is an essential component in Ayurvedic medicine, and the addition of herbal extracts and essential oils increases its already impressive healing capacities. According to Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf, author of A Woman’s Best Medicine (New York: Tarcher/Putnam) the benefits of herbalized oil massage include the following: “Improving circulation in the body, providing a purifying and cleansing influence to the physiology, increasing the secretion of hormones from the skin and maintaining the suppleness and youthfulness of the skin.”

The Ayurvedic diet also aids in keeping us youthful and vibrant. The Ayurvedic diet is rich in disease-killing antioxidants, as it encourages eating many fruits and vegetables. These antioxidants also protect the cells. This is important to maintaining beauty, since cellular death is responsible for both the inner and outer effects of the aging process.

Thriving during menopause

For a portion of women, one of the biggest traumas during aging is menopause. Yet, as Dr. Sharon Lieberman reminds us in her book Get off the Menopause Roller Coaster (Arizona: Avery books), “menopause is not a disease.” In fact, the methods we use to ease ourselves through this transition may aid in improved health and enhanced beauty.

Along with proper diet and exercise, the most pivotal of these methods is supplement use. Since estrogen-loss is responsible for the unpleasant symptoms of menopause, considering replacing this estrogen is worthwhile. Yet conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy is dubious in its side effects. Thankfully we have other options. “For most people black cohosh and chasteberry work really well for menopause, and if you add some ginseng it can really help,’ says Dr. Lieberman. ”Black cohosh is completely safe and effective.” We can trust our source. Besides being an author, Dr. Lieberman has a Ph.D in Clinical Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and is the recipient  of the National Nutritional Foods Association 2003 Clinician of the Year Award. The positive effects of black cohosh extend beyond its estrogen balancing abilities. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, black cohosh is one of the herbs that prevent premature aging and hair loss. Dried rehmannia and Chinese yam are other examples.

“The other herb that I love is Ginseng,” reveals Dr. Lieberman. “Ginseng  is a wonderful supplement for women to take, and it helps  control hot flashes.”  Remarking on the power of Ginseng, Dr. Lieberman says: “It’s one of the few herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine that’s actually used alone. Most Traditional Chinese Medicine is taken as a formula, but the strength and adaptability of ginseng is sufficient enough to merit its independence. Ginseng is an adaptogen. Adaptogens are aptly named, as they adapt to a broad range of problems. They achieve this by facilitating overall balance. For example, ginseng has been shown to reduce blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetes. Yet if you have normal blood sugar but are stressed, ginseng will lessen tension without dramatically dropping blood sugar. Other studies, quoted in The Merck Manual of Medical Information, suggest that ginseng also increases HDL (healthy) cholesterol.

Ginseng is also aids in attractiveness. “Ginseng has long been used by men and women as an anti-aging tonic,” says Dr. Lieberman. “It’s  great for your hair, skin and nails.”  Though ginseng is completely safe, it’s important to select the best quality. Dr. Lieberman suggests Panax ginseng, because it’s the most widely studied. She also advises choosing 8 percent ginsenosides (the active ingredient in ginseng).

For those who prefer traditional western methods, Dr. Lieberman says: “If you take nothing else take a good multivitamin and multimineral complex.” Specifically, she suggests a “4-6 a day multivitamin/multimineral, since you’re not going to get what you need through food anyway.”

De-Stress Through Diet

If you want to slow down the aging process, lessen stress. In 2004 a study at the University of California at San Francisco found that chronic stress appears to hasten the shriveling of the tips of the bundles of genes inside cells. This in turn shortens their life span and speeds the body’s deterioration.  Popular methods of stress reduction include meditation and exercise, even caffeine reduction. But a complete overhaul of diet?

Amanda Geary, founder of the UK’s Food and Mood Project, thinks this is a splendid solution. The Food and Mood Project recruited 200 individuals between the ages of 26 and 55 who lived in London or SE England. They found that the effects of diet on stress were substantial. Says Geary: “From the Food and Mood Survey results, those using this form of self-help found that cutting down or avoiding potential food stressors like sugar (80%), caffeine (79%), alcohol (55%) and chocolate (53%) and having more food supporters like water (80%), vegetables (78%), fruit (72%) and oil rich fish (52%) had the most beneficial effects on mental health.”

A side effect of this stress-less eating is that it improves overall health. We’ve been meaning to eat more veggies and drink more water anyway. Eating oil rich fish may be a different matter. This is a low priority for most, and the controversy over contamination may be keeping us away from the tuna aisles. Thankfully, the essential fatty acids-omega 3’s in particular- that are responsible for the mood elevating effects of fish come from other sources. Flaxseed, for example, is superior to fish in its quantity of omega 3’s. Dark leafy green vegetables and walnuts also contain linolenic acid that the body converts to the same type of omega-3 found in fish.

Omega 3’s are most active in the tissues of the blood vessels, immune system, eyes and skin. Due to this, regardless of why you initially take omega 3’s you’ll receive the side benefit of healthier skin. Udo Erasmus, author of Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill (Burnaby: Alive Books) describes essential fatty acids as “natures perfect moisturizer.” Why? When we have the right amount of omega 3’s they help our skin form a barrier against moisture loss.

Beauty may seem like a dubious motivation for keeping healthy, but it’s a definite consequence. We may not want to throw out our beauty creams just yet, but we need to acknowledge that they’re most effective when applied to a healthy body.

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Galina Pembroke is an internationally published writer specializing in health.

Conversations with a Mystic, Part 2: Michael Clark, Ph.D. talks with Teresa Silverthorn

Searching for enlightenment by Manny Z

Copyright © Michael Clark and Teresa Silverthorn 2009. All rights reserved.

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The following took place January 24-27, 2009.

Michael Clark: Teresa, thank you for agreeing to a second interview. Hopefully we can build on the first and explore topics which would benefit a wide variety of readers.

Teresa Silverthorn: Ahh, Dr. Clark.  We meet again..

Michael Clark: Yes, and I’d like to pick up from our last dialogue. You most eloquently spoke of a ”universal, non-selective grace, over all religions, and all people…”

Could you elaborate on this? It’s been my experience that numinosity differs among different paths, not just in intensity but in character. Along these lines, I’ve spoken to several others who have encountered different textures and qualities of the numinous.

You speak of a grace that runs over all religions. Are you suggesting, then, some kind of universal replacement for all existing religions?

Teresa Silverthorn: I would never suggest or imply that there is a need, or a desire, for universal replacement.  I simply hope that all religions would someday recognize that only one creation was made, which propagated:

Specifically, in this case, the human, in its most primitive form.

Therefore, when each religion refers and prays to their Creator, they would recognize that there was only one creator, and one creation.

(Unless, of course these religions are also stating that they were created by multiple creators.  But, then again, that would be saying that there is more than one “God” which doesn’t seem to be a popular belief, whatsoever. I am aware that the Hindus believe in several gods, so do the Pagans, but am not clear as to whether they feel these gods created their particular race or religion.)

At this point, it is mere logic to conclude that the division between religions is a human decision, not the decision of that creator.

Therefore, the Creator, is non-selective and non-exclusive.

I heard a quote one day, and never forgot it, closely concerning this very topic:

Put a group of Masters in a room, and they will agree on everything.

Put a group of students in a room, and they will disagree on everything.

In this case, we, the humans, are the students.

Michael Clark: Well, as you know, I lived and studied in India. And for the most part Hindus believe that their many gods and goddesses are manifestations of one God. Some schools call this one God the Brahman (not to be confused with the Brahmin caste).

The idea here is that the unmanifest aspect of God is one but the manifest aspect appears as many–for example, Brahma (Creator), Visnu (Preserver) and Siva (Destroyer). For Hindus these three phases of God help to keep the cosmos rolling. Otherwise, there would be no creation, time nor change.

To extend this idea a bit, do you suppose we might have a similar situation with regard to the existence of one God but many religions? And, if so, why? I mean, why does mankind splinter absolute truth into so many different and, I would argue, imperfect fragments?

Teresa Silverthorn: Why is this absolute truth splintered?  I’m glad you asked me that, because earlier today I was thinking of an analogy given to me by one of my dearest teachers, in my training:

“When the earth was first created, and the inhabitants grew in numbers, a crystal ball of truth was cast upon the land.  When it struck the surface, it shattered into many pieces.

Upon this, the inhabitants gathered and gazed up those shattered crystals, and carefully picked each one up, and gently carried them away.

Each person carried with them one piece of that crystal ball of truth, and began their own traditions, forms of worship and pathways of wisdom.

Therefore, in order to gain the entire truth, you must gather them back together, re-forming the original “whole.”

This satisfied my own curiosity as far as the division of religions and mindsets.  I needed no further answers, to this age-old question.

Michael Clark: That’s interesting. I’ve tended to view the division of religions in terms of cultural biases mingling with different types of spirituality and, in some instances, bona fide grace.

I say “in some instances” because I’m not convinced that one person’s experience of grace is the same as another’s. In fact, I question some forms of spirituality.

Do you believe in the existence of evil? And if so, would you say as a mystic that evil possibly generates deceptive interior lights, perceptions and powers which some believe are good and from God when, in truth, they’re not?

Teresa Silverthorn: This seems to be a popular topic among the philosophers and deep thinkers of our current times.  That is, does evil exist?

Instead of answering your question immediately, I find it interesting that the question even needs to be asked.  Not only by yourself, but by anyone.  It seems to be apparent to me, that evil does, indeed, exist.  Not only currently, but throughout history.

The Holocaust, would be a prime example.  I doubt anyone could argue that this event was anything but evil.

Seeking enlightenment by Adarsh Antony

Child abuse.

Hate crimes.

Unrighteous persecution of the innocent.

Need I continue?

As far as questioning someone else’s spirituality, I would tend to agree that there have been accounts in current times, where I would do the same. Several years ago, a young woman claimed that Jesus told her to kill her newborn infant.

Res Ipsa Loquitur.

But, she was obviously not a mystic.  A mystic is trained in discernment, and able to clarify the difference between the many facets of this topic.

But for those who are still wondering, I could only offer my opinion in this matter, which may concur with the popular viewpoint – or not.

Consider the term evil wrongdoing. Put the two words together, and you have an aggressive term.  Separate them, and they take on quite a different meaning.  The term evil, by itself, becomes passive.  It is only aggressive, when paired with wrongdoing.

Meaning, there are pools of dormant wrongdoings which lay within all of us.  But, it takes a human to make that pool gush upward, creating a ripple effect of evil.

Certainly, all of us have considered an act which have laid dormant in our minds.  Thoughts of revenge, specifically.  But, I wouldn’t consider them necessarily evil, unless we act upon them…

Michael Clark: This reminds me a bit of a priest in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). He said we’re always under spiritual attack but sin only arises when one becomes aware of and chooses to act on a harmful influence.

But this isn’t just a Catholic perspective. Many traditions speak of demonic forces and the importance of discernment. I remember a Hindu teacher reading a passage about how the Indian mind is careful to distinguish among Godly powers, evil influences, delusions and the imagination.

And leads to my next question.

We’re not exactly born into this world with a ‘users manual’ in our hands. So what, in your opinion, are the main criteria for the discernment of positive and negative spiritual influences?

Teresa Silverthorn: I’m glad to see a commonality between Catholicism and the Hindu religion. If only they could see it themselves..

But, to answer your question, which, in my opinion, is one of the most important topics of this dialogue:

What is the main criteria for the discernment of positive and negative spiritual influences?

Although this information is rather complicated, I’ll do my best to simplify it as it is so important for you, and your readers, to understand.

Let’s begin by reducing the terminology to negative and positive spirits - instead of spiritual influence.  This might make it easier to explain.

Your thoughts, your behavioral patterns and emotional make-up will attract a common “crowd,” if you will.  In other words, you attract to yourself, that which you are.

Meaning, if you are a deceitful person, you will attract deceitful spirits.  If you are a truthful person, you will attract truthful spirits.

If you are a loving person, you will attract loving spirits.  And, if you are a hateful person, you will attract hateful spirits.

What creates these behavioral patterns, is something for psychologists to discern.  Personally, I feel it is upbringing, peer groups, experiences and even the media.  You are a product of all of these influences, and, in effect, become them.

We are born pure, in my opinion.  And, through time, are re-formed continually by those around us, causing our minds to develop certain behavioral traits.  These traits are the very thing that attracts both negative and positive spirits to your side.

If you want pure spiritual influence, purify your mind.  But, if it is not completely pure, you will still attract the company of spirits who have clued into that small piece of you – that isn’t clean.

So how do you discern what type of spiritual influence you are receiving?

Check yourself – first.

Michael Clark: Yes, in everyday conversation we hear about “bad vibes” and I think some of this could point to the existence of negative spirits, along with impure regions of the spirit, if you will.

I’ve often wondered if those who grumble about picking up other people’s bad vibes are on a spiritual ego trip. That is, do they see themselves as spiritually superior when perhaps they’re stuck in a kind of halfway house of spiritual egotism?

To me it seems that true spirituality is not about self-aggrandizement but, rather, about humility and trying to do God’s will.

Having said that, do you think it possible that some extremely pure and holy souls take on the sins of others? Isn’t that what intercession is partly about?

Along these lines, the Indologist Wendy Doniger says Hindus believe in the invisible transfer of karma from one living being to another. Adherents of Jainism, too, speak of karma transfer, using the analogy of a magnet. Jains say that spiritual impurities fly to the pure soul like “iron filings to a magnet.”

And among other non-Christian traditions we hear of the so-called Wounded Healer.

So, to return to my question, might some exceedingly pure and holy souls pick up bad vibes simply because they’re so close to God? Or does the dynamic of ‘impurity attracting impurity’ that you mention always apply?

Teresa Silverthorn: With all respect, I think you have misinterpreted the meaning of “bad vibes.”  As I recall, that term first came in the late 1960’s, and meant, simply, that a person was sensing a negative attitude (sometimes referred to as energy), from another person.

As far as karma, I’m not familiar with Doniger’s viewpoint, or her work. Karma, as I understand it, is simply work left undone.  If you pick up someone’s karma, you may end up on the receiving end of a debt they actually owed to someone else, but are unable to do it.

For instance, I worked for a wonderful employer at one time in my life.  He was exceedingly generous to me, but there was no possible way to return his kindness as he moved shortly thereafter.  Because of this, I devised “The Flanagan Fund,” which is my way of repaying that debt. I felt I owed “karma” and others are receiving that repayment of kindness, instead of my boss.

As far as exceedingly holy souls picking up negativity from others, the only thing I can offer, on that subject, is my sympathy.  It is a difficult world for all of us.  But, for those who are attempting, in these troublesome times, to do the right thing, I can only admire their efforts…

Michael Clark: Well, meanings within a living language such as English are often polymorphous. That’s why semiologists like Jacques Derrida talk about endless chains of connotation.

As for the notion of karma transfer and its possible connection to sin-taking, this is outlined a bit more fully here:

http://earthpages.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/karma-transfer/

To return to our dialogue, however, I wholeheartedly agree on the importance of trying to do the right thing.

We could continue here with a discussion about situational vs. absolute ethics, the art of compromise and so on. But we’ve already covered a lot of good ground and perhaps could look into these and other subjects at a later date.

Thanks again, Teresa, for generously offering your time and I truly hope we can do this again to probe deeper into even more esoteric and controversial topics.

It’s been most enjoyable!

Teresa Silverthorn: Dr.Clark, for the sake of our readers, in our next dialogue, I would like to ask you some questions that the world would be interested in asking people such as yourself. Would you agree?

Michael Clark: I’ll certainly agree to your asking questions. How I may or may not reply I’ll reserve for my own judgment!

Teresa Silverthorn: Excellent, we will meet again, Dr. Clark…

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Visit Teresa Silverthorn’s website, Confessions of a Mystic: True Stories