I have explained duality in the second chapter of "Path of Beauty." Its understanding is easier from the understanding of the three dimensions of the Tripartite Soul. Luis has asked me to talk about Spinozist Pantheism in relation to duality. Spinoza's work has profound ramifications not only in the philosophical tradition but also in mysticism. Spinoza is one of the favorite philosophers of contemporary physicists (partly thanks to the fact that he was Einstein's favorite philosopher) because his understanding of the Universe as a Great Rational Entity gives an ontological foundation to all the work of Philosophy and Science. Natural. I do not think this is the place to discuss Spinoza's ontology, since the purpose of this Blog and this group is not academic philosophy. For this reason, I am going to give a few glimpses about the connection between Pantheism and Panpsychism, hoping that these rhapsodic notes fertilize the psychic soil and that little by little we will clearly understand what Transpersonality consists of.
Anima Mundi ontologies have been also called Panpsychism or Animism. Most of you are familiar with them as I discussed them in my courses on Mythopoetics.For Animism or Anima Mundi ontologies, the world is a great organism that relates and communicates in an active, intelligent way and with varying degrees of comprehension, understanding, and vitality, but as a whole expressing a defined force identity. Take as an example the notion of "Wakan" of the Lakota.
“Every object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan. Thus the spirit of the tree or things of that kind, while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan. Wakan comes from the wakan beings. These wakan beings are greater than mankind in the same way that mankind is greater than animals. They are never born and never die. They can do many things that mankind cannot do. Mankind can pray to the wakan beings for help. There are many of these beings but all are of four kinds. The word Wakan Tanka means all of the wakan beings because they are all as if one. Wakan Tanka Kin signifies the chief or leading Wakan being which is the Sun. However, the most powerful of the Wakan beings is Nagi Tanka, the Great Spirit who is also Taku Skanskan; Taku Skanskan signifies the Blue, in other words, the Sky.”(J.R Walker. Wakan Tanka, The Supreme Deity of the Dakota. In Essential Sacred Writings from Around the World. Mircea Eliade. HarperSanFrancisco. 1992)
Animism becomes fully intelligible if we consider the relevance that objects have in determining survival scenarios in which emotional systems operate. Every object that moves is important in the animal world, and considering it alive is the unconscious acknowledgement of the pervading presence of intelligence in everything that constitutes the natural world. The border between what is alive and what is not is not as clear as it seems. Are viruses alive? And the RNA? It should not surprise us that animistic thought persists today any more than it should surprise us that theological thought does as well. In fact, both flourish in new formulations, even in societies that we would tend to consider contemporary in their mythological production. Thus, for example, the traditional Japanese animism of the Shinto, the religion of the Kami, has found a new development in robotics -a science in which they have developed cutting-edge research-, as we can see in the production of various types of robots that are then named and treated as if they were living beings by their buyers. The very idea of artificial intelligence is supported by the general public in media and movies as a form of animism that seems childish to no one, since there is an entire economic sector that benefits from this type of metaphysics.
With this I do not mean that Artificial Intelligence is a continuation of Animism, because while machines operate with a strong principle of duality (that of logical language), the ontologies of Anima Mundi are monistic: the Universe is a Unique Living Being (expressed in a plurality of beings) that is not limited by rational thought.
Let us have a glimpse into Baruch Spinoza’s System. (The following corresponds to Spinoza’s Ethics (Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata Part I). Please, do not stop at the detailed understanding of the definitions and axioms but rather at the systematic geometric perfume that emerges from the Spinozist construction. Pantheism in the hands of philosophers is theology. In the hands of shamans and poets it is the spontaneity of Life as expressed in our everyday experience. Let us remember the verses of Walt Whitman, another great pantheist: "Spontaneous me, Nature."
DEFINITIONS.
I. By that which is self—caused, I mean that of which the essence involves existence, or that of which the nature is only conceivable as existent.
II. A thing is called finite after its kind, when it can be limited by another thing of the same nature; for instance, a body is called finite because we always conceive another greater body. So, also, a thought is limited by another thought, but a body is not limited by thought, nor a thought by body.
III. By substance, I mean that which is in itself, and is conceived through itself: in other words, that of which a conception can be formed independently of any other conception.
IV. By attribute, I mean that which the intellect perceives as constituting the essence of substance.
V. By mode, I mean the modifications of substance, or that which exists in, and is conceived through, something other than itself.
VI. By God, I mean a being absolutely infinite—that is, a substance consisting in infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality.
Explanation—I say absolutely infinite, not infinite after its kind: for, of a thing infinite only after its kind, infinite attributes may be denied; but that which is absolutely infinite, contains in its essence whatever expresses reality, and involves no negation.
VII. That thing is called free, which exists solely by the necessity of its own nature, and of which the action is determined by itself alone. On the other hand, that thing is necessary, or rather constrained, which is determined by something external to itself to a fixed and definite method of existence or action.
VIII. By eternity, I mean existence itself, in so far as it is conceived necessarily to follow solely from the definition of that which is eternal.
Explanation—Existence of this kind is conceived as an eternal truth, like the essence of a thing, and, therefore, cannot be explained by means of continuance or time, though continuance may be conceived without a beginning or end.
AXIOMS.
I. Everything which exists, exists either in itself or in something else.
II. That which cannot be conceived through anything else must be conceived through itself.
III. From a given definite cause an effect necessarily follows; and, on the other hand, if no definite cause be granted, it is impossible that an effect can follow.
IV. The knowledge of an effect depends on and involves the knowledge of a cause.
V. Things which have nothing in common cannot be understood, the one by means of the other; the conception of one does not involve the conception of the other.
VI. A true idea must correspond with its ideate or object.
VII. If a thing can be conceived as non—existing, its essence does not involve existence.
PROP. I. Substance is by nature prior to its modifications.
Proof.—This is clear from Deff. iii. and v.
PROP. II. Two substances, whose attributes are different, have nothing in common.
Proof.—Also evident from Def. iii. For each must exist in itself, and be conceived through itself; in other words, the conception of one does not imply the conception of the other.
As we can see, there is a naive rational optimism in Spinoza: the belief in a purely rational Universe which follows the epistemological modes of geometry (that is, the modes of logic guided by the principle of non-contradiction). Rationality is dual.
For Spinoza, saying Universe is equivalent to saying God or saying Nature (Deus sive Natura, that is, God or Nature). God is all of Nature as an infinite substance that takes modifications by its own movement. There is an active God or Natura Naturans and a passive God or Natura Naturata. The fundamental difference with Animism is the belief in a rational principle that guides the Universe and that is explainable more geometrico (in a geometric manner). Although it is only partially understandable by the human intellect due to the fact that our intellect often formulates confused ideas, there is an order in the expression of the Universal Substance regardless of our limitations.
The Panpsychism proposed by the Anima Mundi mythologies has been reworked today in terms of systems theory and information theory.
Please read this post of our Blog:
Understanding Consciousness in terms of the information integration of a system.
https://transpersonalphilosophy.blogspot.com/2024/01/understanding-consciousness-in-terms-of.html
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