In this essay, I will pay tribute to Prof John McMurtry’s ever-lasting memory by reflecting on how his lifework and our correspondences over five years of engagements have changed my views of life and its meaning in ways previously unimaginable.
Category: Philosophy
Introducing “Ten Essays In Honour of John McMurtry – January 6, 2024 by Jeff Noonan (Author), Giorgio Baruchello (Author)”
Ten Essays In Honour of John McMurtry: Noonan, Jeff, Baruchello, Giorgio: 9781999114657: Amazon.com: Books
Min(d)ing ChatGTP for the Social Biases, Blindspots, Fault Lines and Roadblocks to Adoption of Life-Value Onto-Axiology in All of Our Relations
Table of Contents
♦ On Democracy
♦ On the Military-Industrial Complex
♦ On Zeitgeist
♦ On Wider Dissemination
♦ Overview for Data Analysis of “ChatGPT’s Take On Integrating Life-Value Onto-Axiology with other Life-Coherent System Thinkers, Frameworks and Global Institutions”
♦ On how best to integrate true but partial life-coherent perspectives
♦ On Roadblocks and Challenges
♦ On Transmuting Profit and Power Dynamics to Social Profit and Empowerment
♦ Why does the dominant paradigm persist despite systemically driving socially and environmentally life-degenerative consequences?
♦ Is resistance futile, and how can we be hopefully optimistic for meaningful life-coherent changes?
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT – The Spiritual Wisdom of the Beatitudes | Anthony Profeta | heedthespirit.com
In Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 51:16), he declared to the crowd which gathered to listen to him, a number of “Blessed are” statements. These statements have been called “The Beatitudes”; and the spiritual wisdom which Jesus is giving to the crowd is quite profound. In fact, I often wonder how many people truly understood what he was saying. For, we have to remember that Jesus was speaking as a fully enlightened being; someone who knew God intimately and recognized that his life came from God. Therefore, these statements should be meditated on and analyzed not from a physical point of view, but rather from an elevated spiritual consciousness.
Also, their deep spiritual advice can be of help to any of us walking the spiritual path, whether we are a Christian or not. For, truth is truth, no matter which path it comes from or where it is heard. Therefore, the beatitudes are as follows:
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
- Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Over the next few days, we will take a look at each beatitude individually and go into them in depth so that we can fully understand their spiritual benefit. But for now, just read them over again and see how they resonant within your own heart & soul. See if you can fully comprehend the advice & wisdom which Jesus was sharing with the crowd. For, Jesus came as a prophet and a witness to our God & Creator. He came to earth to remind humanity that God is the Father of all; and he came to show His children the way back to Him. Therefore, an understanding of his words can truly help a seeker to attain God.
May God bless you as you travel along your own spiritual path & remember to – Always Heed the Spirit,
Anthony
The Psychological Drivers of the Metacrisis: John Vervaeke, Iain McGilchrist, Daniel Schmachtenberger | Dec 5, 2023
This is a conversation between Iain McGilchrist, John Vervaeke and Daniel Schmachtenberger, recorded at Merton College, Oxford, in September 2023. With no planned objective or agenda, the discussion sought to outline the cognitive and spiritual components of the metacrisis. The metacrisis is the total ecosystem of all global crises and the common underlying dynamics that generate catastrophic and existential risks.
This is neither a comprehensive theory of the topic, nor an approach to addressing it. The conversation was simply an opportunity to explore in real time how the speakers, with their different worldviews and pre-existing frameworks, would approach this deep and challenging domain. As Iain, John and Daniel all happened to be in Oxford with availability on a single afternoon, they had not discussed or prepared the approach at any significant length in advance. As a result, a shared understanding emerges only towards the very end of the film. The content is incomplete and partial, and should be viewed as a potential entry point to a far deeper conversation (which may or may not be recorded at a later date).
Revolutionary Social Transformation (2023) | Ken Wilber | integrallife.com
This never-before published essay by Ken Wilber delves into the intricate dynamics of societal evolution, emphasizing the interplay between technological advancements, cultural worldviews, and governance systems. Through an integral lens, Wilber explores the potential for new and more authentic modes of being and consciousness to emerge, emphasizing the evolutionary Eros that drives social transformation.
Wilber underscores the importance of the Lower-Right quadrant (techno-economic base) as a significant determinant of the average level of consciousness in the Lower Left (cultural beliefs and worldviews). Conversely, he also highlights that the cultural and collective consciousness in the Lower Left is essential to support and sustain the advancements in the Lower Right. The essay touches on the challenges of introducing new governance systems without corresponding shifts in collective consciousness and discusses the concept of “legitimation crisis,” where prevailing worldviews face challenges in maintaining their influence.
Distributed Science – The Scientific Process as Multi-Scale Active Inference (2023) | Balzan et al | osf.io
Abstract
The scientific process plays out in a multi-scale system comprising subsystems, each with their own properties and dynamics. For the practice of science to generate useful world models — and lead to the development of enabling technologies — practicing scientists, their theories, methods, dissemination, and infrastructure (e.g., funding and laboratories) must all fit together in an orchestrated manner. Scientific practice has broad societal implications that go beyond mere scientific progress: we base our decisions on theoretical (i.e., models and forecasts) and technological (e.g., vaccines and smartphones) scientific advances. This paper applies the free energy principle to provide a multi-scale description of science understood as evidence-seeking processes in a nested hierarchy of living (biological and behavioural) and epistemic (linguistic) structures. This allows us to naturalise the scientific process — as distributed self-evidencing — in terms of dynamics that can be read as inference or Bayesian belief updating; i.e., processes that maximize the evidence for a generative model of the sensed and measured world. The ensuing meta-theoretical approach dispels the notion of science as truth-pointing and foregrounds inference to the best explanation — as evinced by the beliefs of scientists and their encultured niche. Crucially, it furnishes a way of simulating the practice of science, which may have a foundational role in the next generation of augmented intelligence systems. Epistemologically, it also addresses some key questions; e.g., is science a special? And in what ways is scientific pursuit an existential imperative for all beings? These questions may be foundational in how we use and design intelligent systems.
Follow Energy Patterns to Build Healthy Systems | Sally J. Goerner | Circular Conversations
Sally J. Goerner is the Director of the Research Alliance for Regenerative Economics (RARE), former Science Advisor to the Capital Institute, and Managing Director of the North Carolina Sustainable Community Fund. With advanced degrees in engineering, systems science, and psychology, Dr. Goerner has lectured worldwide on how the Energy Network Sciences (ENS) create a common-sense narrative on how to achieve socioeconomic vitality by revitalising human networks. Dr. Goerner has authored over 50 articles and 5 books, including ‘After the Clockwork Universe: The Emerging Science and Culture of integral Society’ (1999) and ‘Sustainability as the Cutting Edge of Great Change’ (2007). Over her prolific career, Sally has been on a mission to contribute to a rigorous and unifying framework providing practitioners in different fields the systemic vision required to co-create the reforms we need for a healthy future.
What causes such a society to undergo a comprehensive change of life? The answer is that oligarchy is a cultural system that creates systemic problems by coloring all things. It’s not just economic – it’s political, environmental, agricultural, education. When multiple, interlocking, systemic problems happen at the same time, it creates huge pressure inside the society. In the beginning, nobody knows what to do – they are just casting about focusing on individual problems. Then, some of these people become reformers – heretics from the old system. They will figure out better ways in their area of concern: religion, science, education. Great change happens when the pressures get so large that there is a kind of tipping point. You can see this happening right now. Regular people are so fed up with the old way, that they’re willing to go with something new. That’s the point we’re at right now. You can’t predict whether we’re going to pick up effective reforms or not—after all, demagogues are rising and America elected Trump! Martin Luther had a great line: ‘the mad mob cares not that it be better, only that it be different. And, hence they get bees for flies and then hornets for bees’. My mission in life is to try to build well-informed self-organisation, because if the framework gets in place so that people that are in all different fields can see how their reforms fit together, then we can use its clarity and power to move this society in the right direction.
THE EVOLUTIONARY EMERGENT OF UNIQUE SELF: A New Chapter in Integral Theory | Marc Gafni (2011)
ABSTRACT This article outlines the basic teachings of a new chapter in Integral Theory: the post-metaphysical evolutionary emergence of Unique Self. The article begins by contextualizing the Unique Self conversation within a larger discussion on individuality and traces the emergence of the Unique Self teachings through the life and writings of the author. The core Western understanding of individuality and its affirmation of the dignity of the separate self is contrasted with the Eastern teaching of dissolution of the small self, before both are integrated into a higher integral embrace through a new understanding of Unique Self. This article elucidates how the teachings of Unique Self fundamentally change the classical enlightenment paradigm through the assertion that enlightenment has a unique perspective, which might be termed the “personal face of essence.” Perspective taking, which emerges from enlightened consciousness, is rooted in the ontological pluralism that lies at the core of the Hebrew textual tradition. The new enlightenment teaching of Unique Self therefore rests on a series of integral discernments between separateness and uniqueness, ego and Unique Self, and personal and impersonal man. The Unique Self teaching suggests a new understanding of enlightenment through intersubjective love; the Unique Self perception is then set within an evolutionary context of being and becoming, in which it is seen to express one’s response to the personal address of the evolutionary God impulse itself. In this sense, Unique Self is understood to be an essential chapter in the emergence of a truly evolutionary mysticism.
KEY WORDS consciousness; ego; enlightenment; Integral Theory; Unique Self
Economies of Life: Patterns of Health and Wealth | Bill Sharpe (2010)
Economies of Life argues cogently that there is a ‘default assumption that there is only one economy in our lives – the economy which is the one based on money. Our position is that there are many economies, of which the one based on money is just one, and that they all contribute to the health and sustainability of our shared lives’. To extend this thinking, money is the currency of trade, and art is the currency of experience.
In his collection of five essays, Bill Sharpe uses the principles of ecological thinking to redefine our hitherto narrow understanding of terms like economy and value. The essays consider – with poetic sensitivity and intellectual clarity – what keeps each economy healthy, what sort of wealth each one accumulates and what sort of policies are most supportive of innovation and sustainability in a changing world.
Bill Sharpe and a small group of other IFF members, working with the Watershed Media Centre in Bristol, took as the starting point for their inquiry the question ‘Can we help people who fund the arts develop better policies if we use ecological thinking to understand how the arts work in society and in the economy?’
The insights resulting from Economies of Life offer an ecologically informed and dynamic framework for understanding creativity, the arts and how the arts should be funded into the future.
The Five Essays
- Homo ecologicus, Homo economicus, Homo poeticus
- Patterns of Shared Life
- Art is the Currency of Experience
- Economies of Life
- Producing the Future
