Believing in the Supernatural through the ‘Evil Eye’: Perception and Science in the Modern Greek Cosmos

Drawing on recent anthropological research in Crete and northern Greece, this article describes the various attitudes and conceptualisations of the ‘supernatural’ in the context of an everyday Greek belief, namely the belief in the ‘evil eye’. The usual pre-determined representation that there are two antithetical segments of our cosmos—the perceivable, embodied, and natural on the one hand and the spiritual, immaterial, and supernatural on the other hand—is challenged. Ultimately, it is shown how the sense of belonging to the Greek cosmos calls for a re-location of the boundaries between ‘naturalism’ and ‘supernaturalism’, rendering the bipolarity between scientific and supernaturalistic ideas obsolete via perceptual experience.     

Beyond-personal love – Experiencing love beyond the person

ABSTRACT

Love is seen as interpersonal phenomenon in western society. The love of things that are non-interpersonal or ‘beyond-personal’ is less understood. A sample of 208 adults responded to a questionnaire asking what they loved, and how much they loved 61 common objects, activities, experiences and ideas. An exploratory factor analysis yielded five distinct categories of beyond-personal love including spiritual ideology, physical activity, material objects, hedonic experiences and social experiences. Loving physical activities predicted life satisfaction, happiness, and presence of meaning. Loving social experiences predicted happiness and presence of meaning. Loving hedonic experiences, spiritual ideas or material objects did not predict any of the outcome variables when all factors were considered, but material love was correlated with search for meaning. Results show that beyond-personal love can be considered adaptive, yet the target of beyond-personal love can predict whether one feels life satisfaction, feels subjectively happy or has meaning in one’s life.     

Misers or lovers? How a reflection on Christian mysticism caused a shift in Jacques Lacan’s object theory

In his sixth seminar, Desire and Its Interpretation (1956–1957), Lacan patiently elaborates his theory of the ‘phantasm’ ($?a), in which the object of desire (object small a) is ascribed a constitutive role in the architecture of the libidinal subject. In that seminar, Lacan shows his fascination for an aphorism of the twentieth century Christian mystic Simone Weil in her assertion: “to ascertain exactly what the miser whose treasure was stolen lost: thus we would learn much.” This is why, in his theory, Lacan conceptualizes the object of desire as the unconsumed treasure—and, in that sense, the “nothing”—on which the miser’s desire is focused. But the more Lacan develops his new object theory, the more he realizes how close it is to Christian mysticism in locating the ultimate object of desire in God, in a sevenfold “nothing” (to quote the famous last step in the ascent of the Mount Carmel as described by John of the Cross). An analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet allows Lacan to escape the Christian logic and to rearticulate the object of desire in an ‘unchristian’ tragic grammar. When he replaces the miser by the lover as paradigm of the subject’s relation to its object of desire, he substitutes a strictly Greek kind of love—eros, not agape—for the miser’s relationship to his treasure. Even when, in the late Lacan, “love” becomes a proper concept, its structure remains deeply “tragic.”     

The public good that does the public good: A new reading of Mohism

Mohism has long been misrepresented. Mo‐tzu is usually called a utilitarian because he preached a universal love that must benefit. Yet Mencius, who pined the Confucian way of virtue (humaneness and righteousness) against Mo‐tzu's way of benefit, basically borrowed Mo‐tzu's thesis: that the root cause of chaos is this lack of love—except Mencius renamed it the desire for personal benefit. Yet Mo‐tzu only championed ‘benefit’ to head off its opposite, ‘harm’, specifically the harm done by Confucians who with good intent (love) perpetuated rites that did people more harm than good. Mo‐tzu wanted his universal love to be the public good that would actually do the public good (i.e. benefit the collective). And he derived this from Confucius’ teaching of ‘Love (all) men’ and his Golden Rule: Render not what others would not desire. No man desires harm. As a critic of Confucian rites (especially the prolonged funeral), Mo‐tzu worked to replace the blind custom of rites with his rational measure of ‘rightness’: what is right must do good (i.e. benefit the intended recipient). It is not true that Mohists were ‘joyless’ ascetics; they would gladly celebrate a good harvest with wine and folk song—not expensive court music—with the people. Since Mohist discourse is ‘public’ (that is, accountable), it is also only proper that what is ‘right’ should be outer (means‐end efficacy) and not inner as Mencius would insist.     

Beyond the Four Loves

Abstract

By looking at C.S. Lewis's book The Four Loves through the critical lens of the work of Julia Kristeva, this paper considers how love can be defined and delimited through language and discourse, and how such limitations may be broken down. It examines how Lewis constructs a framework around which various loves are valorized, and how this leads to sexuality and physicality being pushed to the margins—leaving the ‘higher’ loves, such as friendship, safe and manageable. Kristeva's work is used to highlight the way in which Lewis treats the physical and the sexual as ‘abject’, and to explore some of the broader implications that this has in respect of language, culture and gender. Her understanding of love, with its roots in the psychoanalytic tradition, challenges Lewis by insisting on the connection between love, language and the body—and therefore suggests ways in which discourses about love, such as those offered by Lewis, can be disrupted and challenged, enabling us to move beyond The Four Loves towards a multiplicity of loves.     

Toward a Militant Pedagogy in the Name of Love: On Psychiatrization of Indifference,Neurobehaviorism and the Diagnosis of ADHD—A Philosophical Intervention

(Neuro)psychiatric diagnoses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a rapidly growing and globally increasing phenomenon, not least in different educational contexts such as in family and in school. Children and youths labelled as ADHD are challenging normative claims in terms of nurturing and education, whereas those labelled as ADHD are considered a (future) risk for society to handle. The dominant paradigm regarding ADHD is biomedical, where different levels of attention and activity-impulsivity are perceived as neurobiological dys/functions within the brain best managed by means of an individual diagnosis and instrumental pedagogy. The majority of those labelled as having ADHD encounter a dominant educational model in the form of what is referred to in this article as neurobehaviorism, which is based on onto-epistemological violence. As opposed to this act of violence against being—and against the psychiatrized subject—a less violent educational model is proposed, based on French philosopher Alain Badiou’s ontological examination of being and his concept of love as a truth procedure. In terms of the latter, the focus is on the potential of the encounter as a ‘Two scene of love’. Here, the encounter is a place where it is possible to create new truths and subjects, instead of taking the individual diagnosis as an axiom which only leads to individuals having fixed identities codified in a hierarchical order. This argument is drawn from the ‘mathematical’ formula 1 + 1 = ?, which originates from an online forum for people who have come into contact with ADHD in one way or another.     

‘The Extremely Difficult Realization That Something Other Than Oneself Is Real’: Iris Murdoch on Love and Moral Agency

Abstract: In the last few years, there has been a revival of interest in the philosophy of Iris Murdoch. Despite this revival, however, certain aspects of Murdoch's views remain poorly understood, including her account of a concept that she famously described as ‘central’ to moral philosophy—i.e., love. In this paper, I argue that the concept of love is essential to any adequate understanding of Murdoch's work but that recent attempts by Kieran Setiya and David Velleman to assimilate Murdoch's account of love to neo‐Aristotelian or neo‐Kantian theories of moral agency are misconceived. We will not understand what Murdoch is trying to do unless we understand her position as a radical alternative to such theories. Here, I present a reading of Murdoch's account of love as a form of Platonic eros directed toward two objects: the Good and the particular individual. It is in navigating the tension between these two objects that we find ourselves facing what Murdoch famously described as ‘the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real’. When properly understood, Murdoch's account of love opens up conceptual space for an alternative approach to some of the central questions in contemporary moral theory.     

Being ‘Spiritual’ and Being ‘Religious’ in Europe: Diverging Life Orientations

The present study shows that being ‘spiritual’ and being ‘religious’ are becoming different life orientations for a large part of the population. As far as we know, for the first time, a sample from an European country shows that these orientations are reflected in two coherent clusters of beliefs, experiences, and practices of what we call ‘new spirituality’ on the one hand and ‘traditional, church-related religion’ on the other hand. In addition, it appears that ‘only spiritual’ (and not ‘religious’) people and ‘only religious’ (and not ‘spiritual’) people have less ‘intensive’ spiritual/religious lives than people who describe themselves as ‘both spiritual and religious’. The ‘both’ category is not homogenous, probably as a result of the different associations which its members have of the conceptions of ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’. The people in this category can be sub-divided in two sub-groups which show different profiles.     

Religious studies and claims of satanic ritual abuse: A rejoinder to Stephen Kent

Care of the dying is likely to be a useful indicator of trends in Christianity, a religion which for centuries has been deeply concerned with the problem of death. The article identifies three approaches to the spiritual dimension in contemporary terminal care—a religious approach, an ecclesiastical approach and an approach that identifies the spiritual as the search for meaning. Though the ecclesiastical approach dominates practice, the ‘meaning’ approach is becoming fashionable and represents a highly individualized, postmodern variety of religion with similarities to the New Age—a surprising conjunction in those hospices with a Christian foundation.     

A Journey Toward Wholeness, a Journey to God: Physical Fitness as Embodied Spirituality

Physical fitness expressed through exercise can be, if done with the right intention, a form of spiritual discipline that reflects the relational love of humanity to God as well as an expression of a healthy love of the embodied self. Through an analysis of the physiological benefits of exercise science applied to the human body, this paper will demonstrate how such attention to the optimal physical fitness of the body, including weight and cardiovascular training and nutrition, is an affirmation of three foundational theological principles of human embodiment: as created in the “imago Dei”, as unified body/spirit, and as part of God’s creation calling for proper stewardship. In a contemporary climate where women’s bodies in particular are viewed through the lens of commodification—as visual objects for sale based on prescribed notions of superficial esthetics and beauty—as well as the consistently high rates of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and obesity, authors Greenwood and Delgado offer a vision of how women and men can imagine a subjective relationship with their own bodies that reflects the abundant love of God for God’s creation. Spoken from the lived experience of professional fitness competitor and trainer, as well as trained biokineticist, Dr. Greenwood presents the most current scientific data in the field of biokinetics that grounds the theological analysis offered by Dr. Delgado, whose personal journey through anorexia and scholarly emphasis on Christian theological anthropology inform this work. Taken together, Greenwood and Delgado suggest a response to God’s love for humanity, including our physical bodily humanity, which entails a responsibility to attend to the physical fitness of our bodies in order to live into the fullness, flourishing and love of God’s creation as God intended.     

Spiritual Exercises in Augustine’s Confessions

Confessions, the narrative of Augustine’s spiritual journey, has been a source of inspiration to readers through many centuries. It addresses the universal striving of the individual towards a ‘way of living’ characterized by internal coherence and an experience of the transcendent. Augustine, using a method of inquiry and engagement, guides the reader through some fundamental exercises: remembering one’s story; facing inner restlessness; entering into dialogue with God; ordering of human love; centering in Christ; participating in a community of faith; living as a pilgrim. Together, they constitute a didactic instrument for the spiritual development of his readers. This paper reconstructs that central purpose in a coherent and practical model.     

Christianity and Eudaimonia,Luck and Eudaimonism

I argue that Christians have at least two reasons to reject eudaimonism, interpreted as the view that attaining eudaimonia—or happiness—is what fulfills the moral life. First, I contend Christian conceptions of eudaimonia should encompass more than realized moral excellence and its requirements. Second, I claim Christians should construe the love at the heart of their moral life as fully realizable even if it is not evidently reciprocated. Both affirmations contradict eudaimonism by implying that eudaimonia depends on more than fulfilling the moral life—the former by rendering eudaimonia more subject to luck than eudaimonists can allow, the latter by depicting the moral life as less subject to luck than eudaimonists can accept. These affirmations also enable Christians to regard God’s love integral to eudaimonia apart from its role in realizing moral excellence and to deny all inability to attain eudaimonia manifests moral failure.     

Inviting passage to new discourse: ‘Alive moments’ and their spiritual significance

Some social constructionists assert that therapeutic change occurs when clients' meanings for problems and solutions shift from those found in resource‐impoverished discourses to those affording resourceful and preferred possibilities. Referred to as ‘positioning theory’, our research examined this assertion by inviting clients and therapists to speak of a significant, but ambiguous, experience in unfamiliar discourse: spiritual discourse. Clients were asked to review videotapes of their sessions, selecting moments that felt most ‘alive’ to them for discussions with the researcher, including inquiries as to whether ‘alive’ moments held any spiritual significance. The outcomes are portrayed as a ‘poetic collaboration’ between the researcher, clients and therapists — while clients' and therapists' reported experiences for changes in discourse and meaning are highlighted. Implications regarding sensitivities required when co‐constructing meanings for ambiguous but significant experiences in therapy are discussed. Possibilities for more research examining poetic practices and processes in therapy are also considered in terms of positioning theory.     

The Erotic and the Mystical in Postmodernity

Abstract

There has always been a close connection between divine and erotic love in the Western mystical tradition, from the Pseudo-Dionysius to St John of the Cross, and it is found also in poets such as John Donne and George Herbert. It is a tradition returned to in Ron Hansen's novel Mariette in Ecstasy (1991) in which Mariette, though banished from her convent, remains a stigmatic and Christ's ‘lover’. The essay concludes with a brief review of the postmodernity that entertains both the erotic—dangerous sex—and the love of God in true hospitality.     

The Infirmity Debate: On the Viability of New Age Spiritualities of Life

The ‘infirmity debate’ is becoming increasingly lively. On the one hand, scholars argue that New Age spiritualities of life are in a ‘poor’ condition; on the other hand, scholars argue that they are in a good state of ‘health’. Drawing on key publications, including articles from the Journal of Contemporary Religion, the argument is couched in terms of ‘the turn to the self’—more specifically ‘the massive subjective turn of modern culture’. How do New Age spiritualities of life fare in the context of this development? Concentrating on activities found in the holistic milieu which is to be found in many countries today, the argument is that activities like yoga or spiritual aromatherapy serve as ‘intermediary institutions’, successfully negotiating a path between antinomian freedom and social conformism.     

Difficulties in Defining the Concept of God: Kierkegaard in Dialogue with Levinas,Buber, and Rosenzweig

This article investigates difficulties in defining the concept of God by focusing on the question of what it means to understand God as a ‘person.’ This question is explored with respect to the work of Søren Kierkegaard, in dialogue with Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas. Thereby, the following three questions regarding divine ‘personhood’ come into view: First, how can God be a partner of dialogue if he at the same time remains unknown and unthinkable, a limit-concept of understanding? Second, if God is love in person and at the same time a spiritual reality ‘between’ human agents, in what ways are his personal and trans-personal traits related to each other? Third, what exactly is revealed through God’s ‘name’? By way of an inconclusive conclusion, divine personhood is discussed in regard to prayer, where the problems of predication that arise in third-personal speech about God are linked with the second-personal encounter with God.

     

Formalized historiography,the structure of scientific and literary texts: Part I. some issues posed by computational methodology

The examination of theorizing and techniques for scientific language analysis applied to ‘history’ clearly generalizes to imply a domain of applicability potentially coextensive for behavioral scientists with the scope of cultural behavior. It is argued that the computer and related science and technology are moving toward a relationship vis-à-vis symbolic acts analogous to microscopy for the ‘sub-visual’ in scale and telescopes for astronomic phenomena. Content analysis is one of the points of departure, as also contemporary syntactic analysis, from which present ideas and algorithms have moved on. How ‘far’ — both at present and in prospect — is the subject of these articles.     

Recovering enchantment: addiction,spirituality, and Charles Taylor’s malaise of modernity

This article illuminates the nature of ‘spirituality’ as it relates to addiction in modernity. It does so by using philosopher Charles Taylor’s conception of the malaise of modernity and the meta-narrative he presents in A Secular Age as theoretical starting points. It then draws from qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews and ongoing ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Canadian millennials who self-identify as ‘spiritual but not religious’. The young people’s experiences of addiction provide insight into the trappings of free-market capitalist modernity and its inability to provide an overarching source of meaning to their lives. Addiction becomes the means by which these individuals experience the malaise of modernity, which in turn leads them to seek an alternative understanding of the good life—a process they equate with ‘spirituality’. Therefore, an interest in ‘spirituality’ ought to be understood as a personalized attempt to re-enchant what is experienced as a disenchanted world.     

Spirituality,spiritual sensibility and human growth

While notions of spirituality, spiritual experience and spiritual development seem much neglected in the literature of modern analytical philosophy, such terminology continues to be current in both common usage and religious contexts. This author has previously taken issue with some recent attempts to develop (educational and other professional) conceptions of spirituality and spiritual experience as substantially independent of religious attachment. Notwithstanding this, the present paper considers whether such a ‘religiously-untethered’ notion of spirituality, spiritual experience or sensibility might yet be sustainable in terms of two key criteria: (1) as a capacity for non-instrumental perspectives on, or interpretations of, the world of ordinary experience; and (2) as a corresponding capacity to identify goals and values that transcend or are not reducible to the meeting of immediate natural or material—either individual or social—needs.