Clip from the film Into Great Silence about the Grande Chartreuse monastery, head of the Carthusian order.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Gurdjieff Movements
Demonstration of Gurdjieff Movements at the end of Meetings with Remarkable Men.
B. Alan Wallace excerpt
From Contemplative Science by B. Alan Wallace, 2007, pg. 46-47:
In Edward O. Wilson's presentation of scientific materialism in his well-known book Consilience, he has a great deal to say about the realm of human purposes, meaning, and value, which is widely viewed to be the proper domain of religion. Wilson also writes at length on our ultimate origins and destiny and the experiences of our inner life. In scientific materialism the boundaries between science and religion dissolve, and a new religion is presented as a substitute for all traditional religions. The sacred object of its reverence, awe and devotion is not God or spiritual enlightenment but the material universe, which exists transcendently "outside our heads." In other words, scientific materialism appears to be a modern kind of nature religion, or neoanimism, which had innumerable precedents in the preliterate history of humanity. As such, it appears to be one giant step backward for mankind.
...
While the ideologies of traditional religions and of scientific materialism differ in content, in many respects they are very much alike. As Wilson admits, the principles of scientific materialism "cannot be learned by pure logic; for the present only a leap of faith will take you from one to the other." The validation of this leap of faith, he declares, will eventually be reached through the accumulation of objective evidence acquired by scientists, with biologists leading the way. Thus, the creed's ultimate validation rests on the authority of future biologists, who will take on the role of messiahs to redeem humanity from its present ignorance and delusion.
In Edward O. Wilson's presentation of scientific materialism in his well-known book Consilience, he has a great deal to say about the realm of human purposes, meaning, and value, which is widely viewed to be the proper domain of religion. Wilson also writes at length on our ultimate origins and destiny and the experiences of our inner life. In scientific materialism the boundaries between science and religion dissolve, and a new religion is presented as a substitute for all traditional religions. The sacred object of its reverence, awe and devotion is not God or spiritual enlightenment but the material universe, which exists transcendently "outside our heads." In other words, scientific materialism appears to be a modern kind of nature religion, or neoanimism, which had innumerable precedents in the preliterate history of humanity. As such, it appears to be one giant step backward for mankind.
...
While the ideologies of traditional religions and of scientific materialism differ in content, in many respects they are very much alike. As Wilson admits, the principles of scientific materialism "cannot be learned by pure logic; for the present only a leap of faith will take you from one to the other." The validation of this leap of faith, he declares, will eventually be reached through the accumulation of objective evidence acquired by scientists, with biologists leading the way. Thus, the creed's ultimate validation rests on the authority of future biologists, who will take on the role of messiahs to redeem humanity from its present ignorance and delusion.
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