A Rationalist’s Mystical Moment

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/opinion/sunday/a-rationalists-mystical-moment.html

Hi Nontheist Friends,

Enjoyed (fellow Reedie) Barbara Ehrenreich's writing style and focus on neurochemistry, as well as on consciousness, in her article opening this thread.

Enjoyed, too, in the 1970s the mysticism of Howard Brinton (in "Friends for 300 Years" and Pendle Hill Pamphlets) and other Friends/Quakers (also informed by the 1960s) as well as the mysticism of Christmas Humphrey's "The Goose is Out," "The Sutra of Hui Neng," "The Diamond Sutra," "The Upanishads," "The Way of Chuang Tzu" (now Zhuangzi) by Thomas Merton, and the "Tao te Ching" by Lao Tzu (now Laozi) ... all very freeing ... enjoyment-wise even somehow ... and all examples of a great mystical {and wisdom} literature.

Lots of freedom and enjoyment in mysticism thinking ... and Friends offer in ongoing ways the social practices of Quaker Meeting and Business Meeting and, as I see it, a process for 'grounding' such free-thinkings, freedom-thinkings and freeing-texts ... (I was pretty happy and free as a teenager in the '70s, and a fairly free-spirited Reed College student in the first half of 1980s, - and a Religion major there, perhaps influenced to be so by these texts).

Although I don't engage the concepts of mysticism these days too much, I'm ongoingly interested in related neurophysiology, and especially vis-a-vis eliciting loving bliss neurophysiology, which I might have called for myself in retrospect kinds of mystical or religious experiences in the 70s ... MDMA (ecstasy) is a reference experience here on the biology of intense love side of things, and perhaps LSD could be seen as one on the mystical side of things ... certainly folks in 1960s-informed mysticism engaged both of these chemical substances, and rationally (e.g. by making these substances, etc) ...

In what ways is it possible to rif with "landscapes," like improvising on musical scores, or to rif with people, as Blues' musicians might with each other while playing, but bodymind-to-bodymind {metaphorically musically}, for example, for certain kinds of neurophysiology is a related question I'm ongoingly engaging, for example ... e.g.

http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingLovingBlissvavMusicalInstrument.htm ? To what degree, and in what ways, does this happen already in Friends' Meetings, as well?

I think the words rationalist and mysticism come together interestingly, vis-a-vis NTFs, and can be a focus of inquiry and study, in the distinction between this beginning 'Neurophysiology' wiki page for open teaching and learning -

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Neurophysiology - and this beginning Neurobiology wiki page -

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Neurobiology#World_University_and_School_Links - which is more oriented to creative MIT-centric neuroscience (and which distinction is one I make here at WUaS, because I'm interested in both, and made these pages). {See, too, the beginning 'Consciousness' wiki subject at WUaS -

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Consciousness}.

As I write in the open ideas' section of the Neurophysiology wiki page :

"By neurophysiology, I'm interested in exploring both the biochemical changes caused by such substances as omega-3 fatty acids, as well as MDMA, for example, - both subjectively (i.e. what are the benefits of these that people can feel, and the variety of ways they report these?), as well as clinically and scientifically, - especially vis-a-vis pleasure and enjoyment. Neurobiology, at WUaS, by contrast, is the study (MIT Brain Science-informed) of the biology of the brain."

NtFs, freed to some degree from God-centrism especially in the context of F/friends/Quakers, and related thinking-limitations, are certainly beginning to explore questions here in this thread on neuroscience (Barbara Ehrenreich's article), and rationally vis-a-vis what for some might be characterizations of peak mystical experiences, for example, yet in new ways ...

Glad we can have this discussion (and also perhaps consider critically in this light the Friendly somewhat problematic words for me like "worship," "prayer," "spirituality" etc. ) in the light of mysticism, - which now for me here has become an exploration of ways in which Friends might elicit very enjoyable brain or bodymind states of being and a variety of kinds of consciousness.

I hope these wiki pages (schools, in a sense) can be an expression of inclusiveness, which Oz referred to above, as well.

Thanks for this thread ...

Scott

I may add this email as a blog post to the Nontheist Friends' (Atheist Quakers?) wiki school here ... http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Nontheist_Friends_(atheist_Quakers%3F) ...

Hi NtF's

Here are some further Barbara Ehrenreich resources ...

http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/deepLink?_collection=oasis&uniqueId=sch01203 ...

re the NYT's article which Claire shared ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/opinion/sunday/a-rationalists-mystical-moment.html .

I haven't begun to explore them for questions of rational mysticism or her hard-core atheism.

I added this email I sent above as a blog post -

"Clematis viticaulis: "A Rationalist’s Mystical Moment," Hi NtFs, Enjoyed (fellow Reedie) Barbara Ehrenreich's writing style and focus on neurochemistry, as well as consciousness, in her article, In what ways is it possible to rif with "landscapes," like musical scores, or rif with people, as blues musicians might with each other, but bodymind-to-bodymind (metaphorically musically, for example, for certain kinds of neurophysiology is a related question I'm ongoingly engaging, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Consciousness and NtF (Atheist Quakers?) wiki pages at WUaS)

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2014/04/clematis-viticaulis-rationalists.html "

... to the beginning 'Nontheist Friends' (Atheist Quakers?) wiki school here' - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Nontheist_Friends_(atheist_Quakers%3F) ...

Friendly greetings,

Scott