Sacred Indwelling and the Electromagnetic Undercurrent in Nature: A Physicist's Perspective

Wolfhart Pannenberg has related the concept of the physical field to the idea of God's divine cosmic field in all of creation. In this article I proffer a physicist's viewpoint by treating the subject from a more specific and focused perspective. In particular, I describe how electromagnetic interactions underlie the operation of all earthly nature, including human beings and their brains. I argue that this ubiquity constitutes a compelling physical analogy for the ubiquity of God's indwelling. The discussion includes the role of electromagnetism in quantum theory, concepts of time, and the evolution of life. I suggest the value of such analogical thought as an area of study to be exploited in the development of a theology of nature as well as a significant datum in the pursuit of a tenable natural theology. This article is intended to clarify, refine, and considerably expand upon an earlier article published in Zygon (Fagg 1996). Included also are discussions on the role of electromagnetism in our sense of evil and eternity.     

Control of avoidance by a response-produced stimulus

Three pigeons were trained to press a foot pedal to postpone electric shock. The safety signal was a tone of 1000 Hz, which sounded for 5 sec following each press; silence therefore served as a warning signal. After the performance approached asymptote, test sessions were interspersed among the training sessions. Following a warm up, the shock was omitted (extinction), and no tone or a tone of 250, 500, 1000, 2000, or 4000 Hz was presented following each press for the remainder of the session. Gradients of generalization plotted in terms of the number of times the tone was produced on each test peaked at 1000 Hz, indicating that the performance was controlled by the frequency. Since this dimension is orthogonal to absence of tone, the gradient cannot be attributed to differences in the magnitude of change in the warning signal. It was concluded that response-produced stimuli reinforce avoidance behavior.     

Promoting career information seeking behaviors in college students

This study was concerned with the effects of group reinforcement counseling on the frequency of career information-seeking behaviors for 94 theoretically grouped college freshmen and sophomore males. Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) was used to identify consistent-inconsistent vocational patterns and Crites' Vocational Inventory (VDI) was used to identify vocational maturity-immaturity. Predictions about behavioral change were made for each theoretical conception. Three counseling sessions each 1.5 hr long were utilized. Pre-, post-, and post-post measures of cognitive and active information seeking behaviors outside of the treatment sessions were taken. Group reinforcement counseling and vocational consistency were significantly related to behavioral change over the 6 weeks of this investigation. Unanticipated results regarding the tested dimensions and behavior change are reported and discussed.     

Instrumental and contingent saccharin licking in rats: Response deprivation and reinforcement

Instrumental licking of .4% saccharin solution was increased by the contingent opportunity to lick a less-preferred saccharin solution when the contingency schedule deprived the subject of the contingent response, but not otherwise. Schedules that imposed comparable amounts of response deprivation produced comparable increases in instrumental responding. The results support the hypothesis that instrumental responding will increase if and only if the contingency schedule deprives the subject of the contingent response. They also support the implication that the predicted increase will occur even if the contingent response has a lower operant level than the instrumental response.     

ENTHEOGENS IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT: THE CASE OF THE SANTO DAIME RELIGIOUS TRADITION

This essay first draws upon the work of William James and others to propose a nonphysicalistic understanding of the relationship between the brain and consciousness in order to articulate a philosophical perspective that can understand entheogenic visionary/mystical experiences as something other than hallucinations. It then focuses on the Santo Daime tradition, a religious movement that began in Brazil in the early part of the twentieth century, to provide an example of the personal and social ramifications of taking an entheogen (ayahuasca) within a disciplined religious context. The essay claims that the Santo Daime is one example of a contemporary mystery school; gives a brief history of the development of this religion; discusses the key theological assumptions of this movement; investigates the important role played by visionary/mystical experiences within this religion; underscores the centrality of healing and spiritual transformation for members of this tradition; and ends with an examination of the crucial significance of spiritual discipline within this entheogenically based religion.     

William James’ <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Varieties of Religious Experience</Emphasis> Revisited

This essay addresses the familial, religious, and cultural context for the writing and presentation of William James’ classic work The Varieties of Religious Experience. The essay emphasizes the importance of the impact of Henry James, Senior, upon his son. This relationship along with a severe cardiac condition contributed to James’ taking on and carrying through with his exploration of religious experience. The article explores The Varieties and concludes with a discussion of the importance of James’ use of narrative to the study of mind–body medicine. This paper was originally presented at the Richardson Research Seminar in the History of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College.     

Militant atheism,pragmatism, and the God-shaped hole

This paper addresses recent examples of militant atheism. It considers the theistic reply that describes atheism as deriving from a “God-shaped hole” in the human soul. The paper will argue that American pragmatism offers a middle path that avoids militant atheism without suffering from this problem. The paper describes this middle path and considers the problem that is seen in Rorty’s recent work: how the pragmatist can remain critical of religious fundamentalism without succumbing to a militant version of atheism. The solution proposed is tolerant acceptance of religion along with melioristic criticism developed within shared norms of inquiry.