 158. Stigmata (All Faiths) |
In the West, the popular and conventional idea of the Divine is that the Divine is the creative "Other", and human beings are presumed to be entirely separate from that "Other". Indeed, the Western religious disposition is utterly based on the notion of the inherent separation between the human being and the Divine. Therefore, there is an idea in the "modern" West that, even in the religious life (and, certainly, in the study, investigation, interpretation, and evaluation of religion and religious phenomena), one is supposed to remain detached in mind (mentally dissociated from the Divine, even dissociated from belief, and even dissociated from response), and that, in the midst of such steadfastly maintained unresponsiveness and separateness, somehow the Divine is supposed to make Itself known, and produce miracles, and prove Its own Existence. And, of course, the Divine does not do that—because the Divine (or Reality Itself) does not function (or Reveal Itself) in response to such a limited and nonparticipatory approach to Reality.
The Divine is not merely an objective "Other", from which the human being is inherently and utterly separate. The human being always already and utterly inheres in the Divine. Therefore, this principle must be accepted as a fundamental of the religious life: The mind of the human being is supposed to participate in the religious life (and in the study, the investigation, the interpretation, and the evaluation of religion and religious phenomena). The mind is supposed to be changed, and allowed to generate religious phenomena (even physically), by virtue of the exercise of religious devotion.
"Modern" Western interpreters of religion (and of even the entirety of conditionally manifested reality) generally tend to argue that conditionally manifested existence is only materiality and separateness—and not a great (and even psycho-physical, rather than merely physical) unity, The Stigmata (and Religious Phenomena in General) arising in an Ultimate (and Self-Evidently Divine) Oneness. Such interpreters are, anciently and traditionally, called "materialists"—and, in the "modern" era, "scientific materialists". Scientific materialists also tend to argue that anything that occurs in the case of the human being is brain-based—as if the fact that the brain has something to do with all of human experience (or that the physical body, with all of its components, has something to do with all of human experience) were not known to the previous generations and cultures of mankind. Scientific materialists do not perceive, understand, and affirm the irreducible psycho-physical unity of conditionally manifested existence (and the inherence of that psycho-physical unity in the Self-Existing Consciousness and Self-Radiant Spiritual Oneness that is Real God, or Truth, or Ultimate Reality). Therefore, scientific materialists think they are granting a new revelation to mankind when they suggest that there are numerous and various mechanisms in the body and the brain that are directly associated with whatever kind of human experience may arise. That is all interesting, and certainly true. It has always been true! It has, even anciently, been known to be so. And, in general, nobody would deny that it is so—nor, in general, has anyone, even among the ancients, denied that it is so. But scientific materialists think it is "news". This is because they, like even the ancient materialists, have added to this observation of the obvious a qualifying doctrine, an uninspected (and unproven) belief—which scientific materialists love to propagandize, as if it were a Divinely Revealed Message of Salvation. That doctrine (or belief) is this: "That's it! The brain, and even all the physical pieces of the body-mind—that is the entire and only source of human experience." And that scientific materialist doctrine (or belief) arises as a direct consequence of the non-participatory disposition (relative to conditionally manifested existence) associated with the analytical (or self-abstracting) posture characteristic of the scientific method.
Science is a good method for acquiring analytical knowledge of (and physical power over) natural phenomena, but it does not (otherwise) make good philosophy. The viewpoint of the scientific method is that of the entirely separated (or non-participatory) observer. By contrast, the natural and truly human viewpoint is that of the necessarily involved participant. And true philosophy, and, likewise, true religion and real Spirituality, depend upon the magnification (even the utter magnification) of the participatory capability of the human being. Because of the non-participatory orientation associated with the scientific method, the "philosophy" of scientific materialism is bereft of Truth. Scientific materialists view every thing and every one in the context of non-unity, separateness, and separativeness. Scientific materialists do not perceive, understand, or affirm the unity of conditionally manifested existence (as a psycho-physical whole that cannot be reduced to any separate part or, otherwise, reduced to mere materiality)—nor do scientific materialists Realize (and affirm the Reality of) the One that is the Source-Condition of all of conditionally manifested existence. And, as a result of these philosophical limitations, scientific materialists do not perceive, understand, and affirm that human beings (with all of the psycho-physical features that generally control or limit their experience) inherently participate in (and, on that basis, must reach and surrender into) the grand psycho-physical unity of conditionally manifested existence, and (beyond that conditionally manifested unity and design) the Ultimate Divine Singleness.
