The Enigma of Existence

Why is there a universe rather than nothing? And if there is a universe did it have to burst into being through the Big Bang? And if so, will the answer to the question: what caused the Big Bang? eventually be discovered, or will it remain a mystery forever? Or is there nothing mysterious about it at all? Is the suggestion that the Big Bang was a result of a divine act simply false, or devoid of meaning? The main argument of this essay is that a considerable amount of clarity will be achieved if we realise the radical difference between the kinds of hypothesis that are legitimate to account for events within the universe and events accounting for the very existence of the universe.     

The Imagination of Images and Images of Imagination: How the Imagination Relates to Aging,Health, and Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Psychological literature suggests that religion and spirituality increase in late adulthood. Yet, operational definitions of spirituality and religiosity remain widely debated and inadequate for the concepts they are designed to measure. The empirical studies of religion and spirituality as one ages are of poor design and often measure only limited aspects of religion or spirituality. Few empirical studies exist which have been conceived to only study religiosity and spirituality in late adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine the defining aspects of religiosity and spirituality using the Allport, Ross Intrinsic, Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, Ellison's Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Neugarten's Life Satisfaction Instrument. Using a principal component factor analysis, the study examined the factor structure using an older adult sample of 320 individuals 65 years of age and older. Having a purpose in life combines with intrinsic religious questions for the first factor. Life satisfaction questions group together on two factors and extrinsic religiosity is clearly one factor. The scales used hold together well when combined. A new, shortened scale to measure aspects of religiosity and spirituality is proposed.     

The Age of Imagination

Galileo once said that one cannot understand the universe without comprehending its language: mathematics. Unfortunately, most individuals will approach physical sciences with dread, due in part to the difficulty with speaking the language of the universe, and for this reason may fail to perceive its breathtaking beauty. When we look deeper than the letter of reason, we encounter a flow of imagination that appears to be integral to the cosmos. The Enlightenment of the 18th century was an Age of Reason that deeply shaped our modern society. By following the movement of ideas from classical physics to quantum mechanics, passing by chaos theory and Einstein’s special and general relativity, it is argued that a new Enlightenment might be in sight, an Age of Imagination, wherein the creatures that we are will consciously re-enter the flow of imagination. This exploration concerns classical physics and its repression of imagination; the difficult emergence of deterministic chaos is viewed as a return of what was left behind, so to speak: the shadow of reason.

The one-after-another is a bearable prelude to the deeper knowledge of the side-by-side, for this is an incomparably more difficult problem.—C. G. Jung (1970 Jung, C.G. (1970). The collected works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 14: Mysterium coniunctionis (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.; H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, &; W. McGuire, eds.). Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar], par. 206)     

The Imagination in Charge

According to Marc Peschansky, one of the leaders in biotechnological research in France, «with stem-cells, the imagination is in charge». This paper explores the new role of imagination in the “converging technologies” (NBIC report) in their relationship to practice. For the great German philosopher Hans Jonas, it is knowledge (positive: what we know, or negative: what we don’t know) that must guide our action. With “converging technologies” (nano-, bio-, info- and cogno-), knowledge and technique are relegated to the rank of servants of imagination: it is the triumph of imagination. The paper examines ways to fight the dizziness we feel about this potential reign of unlimited possibilities, no longer limited by the principle of reality.     

Choosing to Suffer: Reflections on an Enigma

Most people pursue pleasure and seek to avoid pain. Some individuals, however, choose a life characterized by pain and suffering. The author describes the most common varieties of such behavior patterns: asceticism, martyrdom, penance and masochism. Critical psychodynamics are discussed and the author proposes a synthesis of the motivation underlying pain/suffering seeking behavior.     

Imagination

This paper begins by examining a text in which one writer, Richard Ford, is discussing both the persona and the work of another writer, Raymond Carver. Ford's positive reaction to Carver provides us with a puzzle as to what the basis for it is. I suggest that what he is really admiring is a kind of originality that he detects in Carver. I try to specify the constitutive rules for the generation of this form of originality. They seem to take the form of at once being able to preserve what is valuable in existing material and yet managing to add what could be said to be missing. I then argue that, if Carver is doing this sort of work, so too is Ford. Having seen various examples of a kind of originality, I argue that the process we have been seeing might be formulated as the exercise of imagination, and address the issue of the possible significance of accomplishing such imaginative work. If, as many contemporary philosophers and workers in the human sciences have argued, there is no escape from the need for interpretation, there is a problem of what could ever be a satisfactory interpretation. I suggest that the idea or the possibility of an imaginative interpretation could be a way of providing such satisfaction.     

心理学的想象力与行动力

本文由心理学与内卷化问题切入讨论,提出心理学应该具备想象力与行动力.想象力的培养可以借助人类学、历史学、哲学等学科的视野.行动力则需要树立相应的观念,面向社区、生活与人民群众.知行合一或许是可能的选择.     

The Healing Power of the Imagination

In this conceptual article, the author demonstrates how fairy tales, folk tales and myths offer the child medicine for the unconscious. Through the power of the imagination children develop the ability to incorporate an image of God as eternal presence and limitless consciousness, a sense of object constancy, a sense of self to help battle the intrinsic hardships of childhood, and a map for the journey of oneness, separation, and reunification with oneness at a higher level of consciousness. The article also calls upon the power of a particular therapeutic fairy tale from a collection by this author and demonstrates its value as a teaching aid in the classroom, a tool for psychotherapists who work with children and adults who were traumatized as children, and a resource for parents in the development of their children's spirituality.

     

The Spiritual Connection

SUMMARY

The spiritual connection between two people in relationship can bring a new perspective to interpersonal issues. When a relationship is based on authentic, congruent communication the process of owning projections and transforming negative emotions can free both people to love more wholeheartedly and to share the healing journey of spiritual awakening. This journey is an opportunity for growth and commitment to a shared purpose shifting motivation from fear to love.