 163. Terminology |
SOLID, PECULIAR and VITAL: The three distinct character types or patterns - ways individuals tend to dramatize egoity in the first three stages of life - which He calls "solid," "peculiar," and "vital." These character types correspond, respectively, to the reactive and self-protective egoic strategies of a characteristically mental (or chronologically mentally conceptual), a characteristically emotional (and even hysterical), and a characteristically vital (or physically self-indulgent) kind.
SOPHISTRY: The frivolous misuse of philosophy to teach how to win arguments and sway opinions via linguistic legerdemain.
SOUL: Not the "ego." The soul of super consciousness, the pure consciousness-awareness, prior to the physical body, mind, and brain. Also known as spirit, or the "holy spirit" in each human being.
SPHOTA: A thought or word which, when heard, makes the mind suddenly open up in a flash of insight or understanding.
SRI: A prefix which means reverend or holy, like the English use "Esquire," or American use, "Mr." A symbol of respect.
STOICISM: Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno in the third century B.C.E. that stresses emotional detachment from the workings of fate.
STRUCTURALISM: The linguistic and anthropological theory that different aspects of thinking, language, and culture are related to one another in a logical pattern.
SUBCONSCIOUS: The part of the mind where everything that has happened and everything we have done in life is "stored." It is where our future "karma" comes from.
SUBJECT: According to post-structuralist theory, the self as it is structured through language.
SUBJECTIVITY: The ideas that knowledge stems from personal characteristics and situations.
SUBSTANCE: A philosophical term for what exists that can be used in different ways. Some philosophers use it to mean material stuff, others use it to refer to material and spiritual stuff.
SUPERSTRUCTURE: According to Marxism, those aspects of society that express beliefs, including religion and the arts.
SUSHUMNA: A channel in the subtle body which is in the center of the spine. The path the kundalini flows through from bottom to the top in the brain.
SUTRA: A terse sentence where a general doctrine is given, where much truth is compared into little space. Vedanta and yoga sutras are examples.
SVAHA: A mantra said after a prayer or religious ceremony. Like "amen" or "so be it."
SWADHISHTRANA CHAKRA: A lower chakra in the area of the reproductive organ.
SWAMI: Spiritual teacher, a prefix.
