Chapter 4

1. Chapter 4 The Inner World: The Fantastic Journey

2. Nikos Kazantzakis writes: “With clarity and quiet, I look upon the world and say: All that I see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are the creations of my mind….I create phenomena in swarms, and paint with a full palette a gigantic and gaudy curtain before the abyss. Do not say, ‘Draw the curtain that I may see the painting.’ The curtain IS the painting.”

3. Psyche • Western philosophy has been occupied almost exclusively with rational thinking and the symbolic nature of thought. But a few philosophers have sought to move beyond symbols, and Eastern thinkers have long been aware that, beyond the symbols and below the rational mind, there exist capacities for quite different and valuable kinds of experiencing.

4. The Exploration of Inner Space • There are other modes of conscious and subconscious experience that can enrich our lives; and on the condition that they do not rob us of our sanity or endanger others, there is no valid reason why they should not be known.

5. Huxley’s Deep Reflection • One of the great minds of the 20th century • Huxley developed, through discipline, a technique for using a high degree of his considerable mental power • At will, he could withdraw into what he called his state of “Deep Reflection” (DR state) • A profound progressive psychological withdrawal from externalities…and then a state of complete mental absorbtion

6. Mystical Unity • One of the most valuable but ineffable mystical experiences in both the East and the West is the experience of unity • Historically, some have sought after the “event” in which all experience is somehow seen together

7. Zen Satori • Satori – “flash of enlightenment” • A mind-state of sharp alertness and wide awareness accompanied, at the same time, by a deep sense of inner calm • Stage 1 – alpha waves with eyes open; Stage 2 – a sharp increase of the alpha; Stage 3 – gradual decrease of alpha; Stage 4 – sustained period of rhythmic theta waves

8. Religious Ecstasy • Ek (“out of”) and stasis (“standing”), implying that the “ecstatic” individual is “standing outside” his body • Glossolalia – “speaking in tongues” • A state of consciousness highly prized by Western religious minorities

9. The Fantastic Journey • In the Indian religions, the state of nirvana is a trance-state outwardly resembling a deep sleep • It is marked by a progressive deepening of the trance through religious disciplines that are similar to techniques of self-hypnosis • Samadhi – “concentration” • Self-essence (atman) = Ultimate Reality (Brahman)

10. The BuddhaOne Who Awakened The Eightfold Path: • Right Perspective • Right Intention • Right Speech • Right Behavior • Right Living • Right Effort • Right Mindfulness • Right Meditation

11. Reflections… • The text makes the opening statement that “there is no obvious reason why one should spend his lifetime solely in the two traditional mind-states: the problem-solving conscious state and the ‘recovery’ sleep state’”. Do you agree? Or, in your opinion, are these the only normal and natural modes of consciousness?

12. Time • The essence of conscious life is time. A philosophy of time is important. The mystery arises partly because the word “time” is maddeningly ambiguous – we force it to carry a wide range of meanings – and partly because of faulty introspection.

13. A Philosophy of Time • What is time? How do we experience it? Can we understand it? • What is meant exactly by “past,” “present,” and “future”? In what sense can each of them be said to exist? • Where in time do we live? What does time have to do with personal existence?

14. Clock Time • Chronos – “time” • Clock time probably has nothing to do with time • Clocks measure space • Clocks are used to correlate events and not to synchronize time

15. Psychological Time • Subjective or experiential time • The only temporal phenomenon of which we have any clear conception, and many philosophers are of the conviction that experiential time is the only true time • Psychological time is our individual experience of the continuum of our consciousness

16. Real Time • Matter-in-motion • Sequences of events occurring in the real world

17. Saint Augustine: God’s Time & Ours • God created time when he created everything else • Since God created time, he existed before time, he will exist after time, and therefore he exists outside time. • There was no time before he created it. • Ex nihilo – “out of nothing” • In the mind of God there is no “before” or “after”; there is only a “now”

18. Newton: Absolute Time • Absolute time is a universal medium that flows smoothly and evenly, unaffected by all the events that occur inside it

19. Yesterday, Today…Tomorrow • Time Past • Time Future • Time Present • Time & Personal Existence

20. Immanuel KantStarry Heavens & the Moral Law • Critique of Pure Reason (1781) • Critique of Practical Reason (1788) • Critique of Judgment (1790) • The esthetic experience

21. Reflections… • Summarize in your mind the three “kinds of time” dealt with in this chapter. Can you get a good grasp of each kind of time, and do the concepts sound right to you?

22. Freedom • Are we humans free (undetermined) in our willing and choosing, or are we predetermined to be and to do what antecedent “programming” dictates?

23. The Feeling of Freedom • Does the experience of freedom, in fact, exist? • Does the feeling of freedom mask an illusion?

24. The Dilemma of Determinism • If there is no freedom, then there can be no moral, legal, or any other kind of responsibility • If we are not free, then all our striving is meaningless • The question of freedom has to do with what we are – or aren’t • We are the chessmen and something or someone else is playing the game

25. The Case for Determinism • Dr. Bruno Bettelheim and the case of Joey • Skinner and “freedom as myth” • Carl Rogers says “freedom exists”

26. The Case for Freedom of Choice • For human freedom, as Sartre sees it, is not always a blessing; it is more often a tragedy • Whether we like it or not, man is condemned to be free • We must try to do what we already know we cannot do

27. Reflections… • After reading this chapter, jot down your thoughts regarding the following: (1) Is the question of freedom/determinism an authentic question or does it need to be rephrased in the light of modern knowledge? (2) To what degree can we be where “we cause ourselves endless troubles by confusing primal freedom with various secondary freedoms”?

28. Symbols • Finding ourselves trapped in the egocentric predicament, we humans are isolated and lonely • To minimize our loneliness we touch and we gesture (“body language”), but mostly we resort to symbolic language

29. The Functions of Language • Is our transmittal of experience all that successful? • Do we listen to and hear others more empathetically and sensitively than, say, a mother fox calming her young? Or a whale guiding her calf? • Are we, as a matter of fact, less lonely?

30. The Many Roles of Language • To express emotion • To drown out silence • To enjoy the sounds of language • To establish a feeling of belonging • To establish relationships • To affect or manipulate others’ emotions • To affect others’ behavior • To suggest insights • To communicate facts and ideas • To effect word-magic

31. Communications Analysis • But we don’t want others to hear our paltry symbols: we want them to hear our experience. And others want the same from us. • Charlie Brown and friends • Adversary vs. supportive dialogue • Word-oriented rather than meaning-oriented

32. Definitions & Contexts • Semanticists remind us that symbols can be understood intelligibly only within the context of actual usage • Semanticists keep reminding us that words mean nothing at all until we give meanings to them

33. Ludwig WittgensteinDissolving the Riddles of Life • “Everything that can be thought of at all can be thought of clearly” • A man in a room who wants to get out • Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) • Philosophical Investigations (1948)

34. Reflections… • Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by words? What sort of communicative techniques do you think would resort to or develop or invent if, suddenly, we found ourselves without words?