Author: Louis J. Zanine
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2016-11-11
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 1512809128
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In Mechanism and Mysticism, Louis J. Zanine provides the first full-length study of Theodore Dreiser's interest in modern scientific research and of the impact of scientific ideas on the thought and work of a writer who would gain fame as a deterministic naturalist, but who would end his life as a mystic pantheist. Dreiser was raised in a household dominated by the fanatical Catholic faith of his father and the superstitious beliefs of his mother. In 1894, having rejected the orthodox Christianity of his upbringing, he underwent a significant intellectual and spiritual revolution, precipitated by his discover y of the evolutionary writings of Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer. The concept of an evolutionary universe provided Dreiser with the philosophical framework for the pessimistic naturalism of his early novels (Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, The Financier). In the next decades, his discovery of scientific mechanism would reveal a universe that was a well-ordered machine, and it is in the context of Dreiser's reading of the mechanistic philosophy of Jacques Loeb and others that Zanine examines An American Tragedy and The Hand of the Potter. The philosophy of mechanism, combined with his under standing of evolutionary thought, provided Dreiser with a scientific world view that gave him a coherent system of beliefs about human beings' place in the universe, their origins, and the bases of their behavior. Yet Zanine demonstrates that Dreiser never fully adopted the stark materialism or atheism of the mechanists. He continued to have a deeply superstitious side, and a number of experiences with fortune tellers, séances, Ouija boards, and spirit apparitions convinced him of the existence of some controlling supernatural force in the universe. During the same years that he was espousing the principles of mechanistic philosophy in correspondence and conversation with Jacques Loeb, Zanine shows Dreiser was also drawn into speculations about the supernatural through his friendship with the eccentric investigator and author, Charles Fort. In an effort to further his understanding of mechanistic philosophy and to reconcile his faith in the supernatural with the facts of modern science, Dreiser began an intensive period of scientific study in 1927. For the next ten years, he befriended many of America's most eminent scientists, and read numerous works on biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. In 1937, at the Carnegie Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, he experienced a spiritual epiphany in which he was suddenly able to intuit a Divine Being's presence in all of nature. Dreiser's scientific quest had culminated in a mystical conversion that would dominate the remaining eight years of his life. Mechanism and Mysticism offers substantial insight into the character of one of America's leading literary figures. With its unique brand of interdisciplinary research data, it will be of interest to students and scholars of American studies and literature, twentieth-century history, and history of science and religion.
Author: Thomas G. Brophy
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2001-03-27
Total Pages: 382
ISBN-13: 0595177956
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"Brilliant important strongly recommended reads at times like a 'Tom Robbins of physics'." - Jacquelyn Small, author of Awakening in Time, and Becoming a Practical Mystic "With this book, Thomas Brophy establishes his credentials as a paradigmatist, that rarest of thinkers, whose models of reality not only enhance human understanding of their world, but give form to new historical movements. By integrating several cutting edge paradigms, and by highlighting the role of spirit in the universe, The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism is sure to inform, instruct, entertain, and even inspire its readers." -Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., former president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Humanistic Psychology; author of Dream Telepathy. "Integrating the words of many holy people with scientific theories and a study of phenomena, Brophy indicates the limitations of scientific and religious dogmas this kind of integration will become more and more necessary in the next century." -Hiroshi Motoyama, Ph.D., Litt. D., author of Karma and Reincarnation; Head Priest of Tamamitsu Shinto Shrine, Tokyo. "Well, 'just a few pages' has turned into reading the whole thing. Eminently readable and highly entertaining or infotaining. A good book! Never thought of juxtaposing Newton and Basho myself." -Yasuhiko Kimura, CEO of the University of Science & Philosophy and Director of the Twilight Club/Center for Evolutionary Ethics, former Zen priest. "Your ideas are profound. The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism deserves a broader exposure." - Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D., host of Thinking Allowed, and "Virtual U" Wisdom Radio. "You are opening the eyes of scientists all over. Bravo!" -Judith Orloff, M.D. Board Certified Psychiatrist, author of Second Sight.
Author: Robert K. C. Forman
Publisher: SUNY Press
Published: 1999-01-01
Total Pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9780791441695
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Challenges the prevailing view that mystical experience is shaped by language and culture and argues that mystical experience is a direct encounter with consciousness itself.
Author: Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-01-29
Total Pages: 364
ISBN-13: 1317329112
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity offers a comparative study of the works of the Sufi-poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) and the practical teachings of the German Dominican, Meister Eckhart (c1260-1327/8). Rumi has remained an influential figure in Islamic mystical discourse since the thirteenth century, while also extending his impact to the Western spiritual arena. However, his ideas have frequently been interpreted within the framework of other mystical, philosophical, or religious systems. Through its novel approach, this book aims to reformulate Rumi’s practical mysticism by employing four methodological principles: a) mysticism is a coherent structure with mutual interconnection between its parts; b) the imposition of alien structures to interpret any particular mysticism damages its inward coherency; c) practical mysticism consists of two main parts, namely practices and stages; and d) the proper use of comparative methodology enables a deeper understanding of each juxtaposed system. Eckhart’s speculative mysticism, which differs from and enjoys similarities with the love-based mysticism of Rumi, provides a "mirror" that highlights the special features of Rumi’s practical mysticism. Such comparison also allows a deeper comprehension of Eckhart’s practical thought. Offering a critical examination of practical mysticism, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Islamic studies, comparative mysticism, and the intellectual history of Islam.
Author: Anthony Sean Neal
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2019-01-02
Total Pages: 133
ISBN-13: 1498552765
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →African American Philosophy and African American Philosophers have played a central role in understanding and also shaping what it means to be black in America. Some of their conclusions were reactions to the mistreatment they received from the majority population, but other of their conclusions were extensions and/or novel positions taken with a view through past perceptual lenses. Yet, with the mass exodus of black students from HBCU’s after the civil rights era, many of the important figures and their inquiries have been little or poorly studied. The significance of this work is found in its attempt to grapple with one such seminal figure, his memory of his ancestors, and the education he received from Morehouse College (in the Atlanta University Center), all of which formed the roots of the ideas he later produced. Howard Thurman, former Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, and mentor to figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., left quite a large ideological footprint; however, just as others of his milieu, his ideas have been largely overlooked. Thurman’s deep-rooted knowledge of black culture, particularly black religious ideas as they existed during the period of African enslavement in the United States and as they were exhibited in the Negro Spirituals, shaped his thinking and allowed him to produce a body of work grounded in the musings and traditions of his ancestors. This volume investigates, forms an analysis, and even critiques Thurman’s work such that others can benefit from the profundity of his thoughts while also taking note of their relevance for today’s philosophers concerned with humanity.
Author: Zeke Mazur
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2020-10-12
Total Pages: 355
ISBN-13: 9004441719
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In The Platonizing Sethian Background of Plotinus’s Mysticism, Zeke Mazur offers a radical reconceptualization of Plotinus with reference to Gnostic thought and praxis, chiefly as evidenced by Coptic works among the Nag Hammadi Codices whose Greek Vorlagen were read in Plotinus’s school.