DOCSLIB.ORG

Neurophenomenology and Its Applications to Psychology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Neurophenomenology and Its Applications to Psychology Neurophenomenology and Its Applications to Psychology Susan Gordon Editor Neurophenomenology and Its Applications to Psychology Editor Susan Gordon Department of Psychology National University La Jolla, CA, USA Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines Southbury, CT, USA ISBN 978-1-4614-7238-4 ISBN 978-1-4614-7239-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-7239-1 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013937293 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) This book is dedicated to Francisco J. Varela (September 7, 1946–May 28, 2001) and to Eugene I. Taylor (October 28, 1946–January 30, 2013) In Memoriam R e fl ections on Eugene Taylor Two weeks before I presented this manuscript to Springer for publication, Dr. Eugene Taylor passed away. He confi ded to me his life-threatening illness in February 2012. I must confess that Eugene was always my primary inspiration for this book. He was a beloved teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend during my years at Saybrook Graduate School where he chaired my dissertation and as his research assistant for 9 years at Harvard. The year before I graduated from Saybrook, Eugene invited me to the American Psychological Association (APA). Five years later, I had the pleasure of presenting him with the 2011 Abraham Maslow Award from Division 32, “for outstanding and lasting contribution to the exploration of the farther reaches of human spirit,” a fi t- ting tribute to his character, ethics, and his dedication to existential-humanistic and transpersonal psychology and the Buddhist spiritual tradition. Upon my graduating from Saybrook, Eugene and I embarked on a writing proj- ect to uncover the infl uence of William James on Francisco Varela, particularly with regard to James’ radical empiricism, the subject of his chapter (this volume). I vora- ciously read Varela’s primary works and met with his wife Amy and colleagues in Paris during the summer of 2011. In addition to this project, I assisted Eugene with William James and the Spiritual Roots of American Pragmatism and The Mystery of Personality: A History of Psychodynamic Theories (Springer, 2009). Eugene’s leg- acy lives on in the hearts and minds of his students and colleagues who dearly loved him and whose lives he so profoundly touched. Eugene was a paradox. Impassioned and erudite, he was highly emotional, deeply caring, and compassionate. While he evoked fear and awe in many, we were kindred spirits. I recognized his transcendent presence in my life the instant we met. He asked penetrating questions and had a ravenous appetite for precision that rivaled his thirst for knowledge. Our friendship began at a Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa, CA in 2004. As synchronicity would have it, I was seated at a table directly opposite, but facing Eugene, and my husband Andrew and I invited him to join us. vii viii In Memoriam We spoke for hours as we shared what would become numerous conversations about the mind- brain relationship, holistic medicine, Henry Murray, cyberphysiology, Asian and contemplative philosophy, Ellenberger’s The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970), mystical states, psychical research, James’ tripartite meta- physics, self-realization, and Eugene’s vision of a person-centered science. I fell in love with Eugene’s sheer brilliance, his devotion to living in the moment, higher purpose, veracity, valor, tenderness, sense of humor, and grace. Eugene held a master’s degree in experimental psychology with a minor in Asian studies from Southern Methodist University (SMU) for his thesis “Psychological Suspended Animation: Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, Time Estimation, and Introspective Reports from an Anechoic Environment” (1973) and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of psychology from the Boston University Professors Program under the direction of Sigmund Koch for his dissertation, “Psychology as a Person-Centered Science: William James after 1890” (Taylor, 1992a), republished as William James on Consciousness beyond the Margin (1996). Eugene also uncov- ered James’ notes for a series of 1896 Lowell lectures at Harvard keyed to marginal annotations in books from James’ personal library, which he reconstructed as William James on Exceptional Mental States (1982/1984). Eugene was Executive Faculty and Department Chair in Humanistic and Transpersonal psychology at Saybrook University, a Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Senior Psychologist on the Psychiatry Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and historian in the Department of Psychiatry for 25 years. He received early training in experimental psychology from psychophysi- cist William H. Tedford, and in the history of psychology from Jack Roy Strange. Eugene was introduced to the techniques of historical scholarship in comparative religions by Frederick Streng, a student of Mircea Eliade at the University of Chicago, a Buddhist scholar, and specialist in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Eugene took courses in comparative religions in the Department of Religion at SMU and Perkins School of Theology and applied these techniques to archival investigation in the history of American psychology and psychiatry at Harvard. He wrote numerous publications on medical biography, the history of medical psychology, and the introduction of psychotherapeutic methods into neurology, psy- chiatry, psychology, and religion in the United States in the late nineteenth century. From 1977 to 1979, he was a Resident Graduate in the Psychology of Religion and Asian Studies at Harvard Divinity School, where he returned in 1983 as the William James Lecturer on the Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). He was the steward of the papers of Gordon W. Allport between 1979 and 1984, where he created the indices for Allport’s papers and correspondence, and from 1982 to 1988 he was research assistant to Henry A. Murray. In 1992, he became the founder and director of the Cambridge Institute of Psychology and Religion. Additionally, he authored two books on popular American spirituality, A Psychology of Spiritual Healing (1997) and Shadow Culture: Psychology and Spirituality in America (1999). Eugene held memberships in the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1 [Fellow], 24, 26 [Fellow], and 32), American Academy of Religion, In Memoriam ix American Association for the History of Medicine, The History of Science Society, The Cheiron Society (International Society for History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences), International Association for the History of European Psychiatry, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Platform Association, The Thoreau Society, The Cambridge Historical Society, The United States Aikido Federation, and The William James Society, the Philemon Foundation, and was a founding member of the New Existentialists. Eugene’s message to psychology regarding the science of consciousness, psy- chology as epistemology, the phenomenology of the science-making process, and the humanistic implications of the neuroscience revolution continues to guide my work. It is with great love, appreciation, and gratitude that I dedicate this book to Dr. Eugene Taylor. References Ellenberger, H. (1970). The discovery of the unconscious . New York, NY: Basic Books. James, W. (1902). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature . New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Company. Taylor, E. I. (1973). Psychological suspended animation: Heart rate, blood pressure, time estima- tion, and introspective reports from an anechoic environment . Master of Arts Thesis, Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. Privately printed by The Essene Press. Taylor, E. I. (1982). William James on exceptional
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Neurophilosophy and Its Discontents How Do We Understand Consciousness Without Becoming Complicit in That Understanding?
    Neurophilosophy and Its Discontents How Do We Understand Consciousness Without Becoming Complicit in that Understanding? BY GABRIELLE BENETTE JACKSON dependent on empathy or imagination. Though presumably it would not capture everything, its goal would be to describe, at least in part, the subjective character of hat is consciousness? “It is being awake,” “being responsive,” “acting,” “being experience in a form comprehensible to beings incapable of having those experi- Waware,” “being self-aware,” “paying attention,” “perceiving,” “feeling emo- ences. […] It should be possible to devise a method of expressing in objective terms tions,” “feeling feelings,” “having thoughts,” “thinking about thoughts,” “it is like much more than we can at present, and with much greater precision.” The proposal, this!” simply put, was to develop a language to describe subjectivity in non-subjective Who is conscious? “We humans, surely!” Well, maybe not all the time. “Animals!” terms. And although it is definitely not the case that all theorists pushing past the Debatable. “Computers?” No—at least, not yet. “Other machines?” Only in fiction. problem of consciousness consider themselves to be implementing Nagel’s plan, it “Plants?” Absolutely not, right? does help to understand a particular set of accumulated answers. Two fundamental Nearly twenty-five years ago, we lived through “the project of the decade of the approaches have been neurophilosophy and neurophenomenology, each emphasizing brain,” a governmental initiative set forth by President one aspect of Nagel’s suggestion—either the objective part George H. W. Bush.1 Presidential Proclamation 6158 (viz. neurophilosophy) or the phenomenology part (viz. begins, “The human brain, a three-pound mass of inter- neurophenomenology).
    [Show full text]
  • The Enactive Approach and Disorders of the Self - the Case of Schizophrenia
    Phenom Cogn Sci DOI 10.1007/s11097-015-9441-z The enactive approach and disorders of the self - the case of schizophrenia Miriam Kyselo1 # The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The paper discusses two recent approaches to schizophrenia, a phenomeno- logical and a neuroscientific approach, illustrating how new directions in philosophy and cognitive science can elaborate accounts of psychopathologies of the self. It is argued that the notion of the minimal and bodily self underlying these approaches is still limited since it downplays the relevance of social interactions and relations for the formation of a coherent sense of self. These approaches also illustrate that we still lack an account of how 1st and 3rd person observations can fruitfully go together in an embodied account of disorders of the self. Two concepts from enactive cognitive science are introduced, the notions of autonomy and sense-making. Based on these, a new proposal for an enactive approach to psychopathologies of the self is outlined that integrates 1st and 3rd person perspectives, while strongly emphasising the role of social interactions in the formation of self. It is shown how the enactive framework might serve as a basis for an alternative understanding of disorders of the self such as schizophrenia, as a particular form of socially constituted self-organisation. Keywords Enactive cognition . Autonomy. Sense-making . Enactive self . Disorders of the self.Meaning ofsymptoms.Enactive approach to psychopathology.Self-organisation. Schizophrenia 1 Introduction What cognitive scientists think about the nature of cognition has implications for understanding mental disorders, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES in THE
    Acta Colombiana de Psicología ISSN: 0123-9155 [email protected] Universidad Católica de Colombia Colombia Armengol de la Miyar, Carmen G.; Moes, Elisabeth J. EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION Acta Colombiana de Psicología, vol. 17, núm. 2, 2014, pp. 69-79 Universidad Católica de Colombia Bogotá, Colombia Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=79832492008 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Acta.colomb.psicol. 17 (2): 69-79, 2014 http://www.dx.doi.org/10.14718/ACP.2014.17.2.8 EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION Dr. Carmen G. Armengol de la Miyar1*, Dr. Elisabeth J. Moes2** 1Counseling and Applied Psychology Department, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 2Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Recibido, abril 25/2014 Referencia: Armengol de la Miyar, C.G. & Moes, E.J. Concepto de evaluación, mayo 12/2014 (2014). Epistemological perspectives in the scientific Aceptado, mayo 28/2014 study and clinical evaluation of executive function. Acta Colombiana de Psicología, 17 (2), pp. 69-79. DOI:10.14718/ ACP.2014.17.2.8 Abstract In this article, epistemological perspectives that have shaped and affected the scientific quest for understanding what neuropsychologists term “executive functions” are reviewed. Executive functions refer to the control functions of cognition and behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • Life and Mind: from Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology. a Tribute to Francisco Varela1
    Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 3: 381–398, 2004. C 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Life and mind: From autopoiesis to neurophenomenology. A tribute to Francisco Varela1 EVAN THOMPSON Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Science and the Embodied Mind, Department of Philosophy, York University (E-mail: [email protected]) Abstract. This talk, delivered at “De l’autopoi`eseal ` aneuroph´enom´enologie: un hommagea ` Francisco Varela;from autopoiesis to neurophenomenology: a tribute to Francisco Varela,” June 18–20, at the Sorbonne in Paris, explicates several links between Varela’sneurophenomenology and his biological concept of autopoiesis. Key words: autopoiesis, lived body, neurophenomenology, teleology, Varela Allow me to begin on a personal note. I first met Francisco Varela in the summer of 1977 at a conference called “Mind in Nature.” The conference wasorganized by my father, William Irwin Thompson, and Gregory Bateson. It took place in Southampton, New York, at the Lindisfarne Association, an institute founded by my father, and was chaired by Bateson, who was then serving as Lindisfarne’s Scholar-in-Residence.2 Iwas not quite 15-years old; Francisco was almost 32. At that time Francisco was known within the cir- cle of second-generation cybernetics and systems theory for his work with Maturana on autopoiesis and for his “calculus of self-reference” (Varela et al., 1974; Maturana and Varela, 1975; Varela 1975). But outside this circle he was known for an interview and a paper that had appeared about a year earlier in Coevolution Quarterly,awidely read intellectual journal of the American counterculture in the 1970s (Varela 1976a,b).
    [Show full text]
  • A Metaphysical Approach to Environmental Sustainability- Alfred
    A METAPHYSICAL APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD’S PROCESS PHILOSOPHY By DYNESIUS NYANGAU C50/79646/2015 A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy, University of Nairobi 2016 DECLARATION I declare that this research project is my original work and has not been presented for examination in any other university. __________________________ _______________________________ Sign Date Dynesius Nyangau C50/79646/2015 This research project has been submitted for examination with my approval as the university supervisor. ____________________________ _______________________________ Sign Date Dr. Patrick O. Nyabul Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies University of Nairobi ii DEDICATION To the late Professor Joseph Nyasani, in whose sense of duty I will ever remain, for his acerbic academic discernment, resolute inspiration and unflagging demonstration of the most philosophical audacity, charity and bounteousness in the face of great hardship. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I hold with esteem the input of Prof. Stephen Ifedha Akaranga, the Head of Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies for his specific contribution on methodology while working on this document. I remain indebted to my supervisor Dr. Patrick O. Nyabul for his dedication, continuous review and guidance throughout the study. I acknowledge with gratitude the input of Prof. Karori Mbugua and Prof. Solomon Monyenye who listened, critiqued, and helped me organize my thoughts before beginning to put down the proposal for this project. I thank my educators Dr. Francis Owakah and Dr. Oriare Nyarwath, whose constructive criticism and input helped shape up this work. I express gratitude to Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • I690/H699 Cybernetics and Revolution: International Histories of Science, Technology, and Political Change
    I690/H699 Cybernetics and Revolution: International Histories of Science, Technology, and Political Change Prof. Eden Medina Office: Informatics 305 Email: [email protected] Class Times: W 1:00-3:30 Room: Info 001 Class Description Norbert Wiener used the term cybernetics for studies of communication and control in the animal and the machine. Cybernetics brought together ideas from biology, psychology, math, computation, and engineering and looked for underlying commonalities in areas as diverse as neurology, electronics, and the study of social systems. Historical studies of cybernetics often cite the research activity that took place in the United States during 1940s and 1950s as the peak moment of this interdisciplinary field. However, these ideas also took root in other parts of the world, where they intertwined with other national histories and political ideologies. This class will bring an international perspective to the study of cybernetics. Different geographical, political, and cultural contexts shaped the language, content, and application of cybernetic science outside of the United States. Cybernetics also offered new ways for imagining social and political change. The class will study individuals such as Norbert Wiener, Ross Ashby, Stafford Beer, Humberto Maturana, and Viktor Glushkov, among others. Since most histories of cybernetics are set in the United States and Western Europe, special attention will be given to the evolution and application of cybernetic ideas in Latin America. Required Reading Paul Edwards, The Closed
    [Show full text]
  • Download Article (PDF)
    Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 176 2nd International Conference on Management, Education and Social Science (ICMESS 2018) Neurophenomenology: A Perspective of Scientific Epistemology Zhang Jingzhu Ren Qiaohua School of Marxism, Shenyang Jianzhu University School of Marxism, Shenyang Jianzhu University Shenyang, China, 110168 Shenyang, China, 110168 [email protected] [email protected] Abstract—Since the 21st century, philosophical epistemology and methodology have been greatly affected by phenomenology. II. THE RISE OF NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY The most representative view is that in neuroscience research, Neuro-phenomenology refers to a research program that there is a phenomenological method to illustrate consciousness. addresses the problem of consciousness from the perspective Firstly, neurophenomenology combines first-person of pragmatics, linking neuroscience to phenomenology, and is phenomenological methods with third-person neuroscience designed to study experience, mind and consciousness, and to methods to deal with “hard” problem. Secondly, from the emphasize the specific conditions of the human mind. This perspective of scientific epistemology, phenomenology combines the standpoints of Foundherentist to explore the influence of the field is related to neuropsychology, neuroanology, behavioral integration of neuroscience and phenomenology on science neuroscience (also known as biological psychology), and epistemology. It is found that neurophenomenology of psychopathological studies. In 1990, Laughlin C., McManus J. consciousness reflects the implications of constructivist and and Aqua E. proposed the theory of neurocognition. In the methodologically embodies the necessity of combining scientific mid-1990s, the cognitive neuroticist, Francisco Varela gave rationality with introspection training in scientific research. the neuro-phenomenology to different connotations, which inspired many philosophers and neuroscientists to explore the Keywords—Neurophenomenology; Foundherentist; Scientific problem in new directions.
    [Show full text]
  • NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY a Methodological Remedy for the Hard Problem Francisco J
    Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3, No. 4, 1996, pp. 330–49 NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY A Methodological Remedy for the Hard Problem Francisco J. Varela, LENA (Laboratoire des Neurosciences Cognitives), CNRS URA 654, Hôpital de la Salpètrîere, 47 Blvd. de l’Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, FRANCE. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper starts with one of Chalmers’ basic points: first-hand experience is an irreducible field of phenomena. I claim there is no ‘theoretical fix’ or ‘extra ingredient’ in nature that can possibly bridge this gap. Instead, the field of conscious phenomena requires a rigorous method and an explicit pragmatics for its exploration and analysis. My proposed approach, inspired by the style of inquiry of phenomenology, I have called neurophenomenol- ogy. It seeks articulations by mutual constraints between phenomena present in experience and the correlative field of phenomena established by the cognitive sciences. It needs to expand into a widening research community in which the method is cultivated further. This paper responds to the issues raised by D.J. Chalmers (1995) by offering a research direction which is quite radical in the way in which some basic methodological principles are linked to the scientific studies of consciousness. Neuro-phenomenology is the name I am using here to designate a quest to marry modern cognitive science and a disciplined approach to human experience, thus placing myself in the lineage of the continental tradition of phenomenology.1 My claim is that the so-called hard problem that animates these Special Issues of the Journal of Consciousness Studies can only be addressed productively by gathering a research community armed with new pragmatic tools ena- bling them to develop a science of consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Syntheses and Surprises: Toward a Critical Integral Theory
    Of Syntheses and Surprises: Toward a Critical Integral Theory Daniel Gustav Anderson Abstract: The central concern of this article is how the search for formal structures with universal values functions ideologically, addressing Zizek’s claim that East-West syntheses may represent the dominant ideology par excellance of global capitalism. To this end, the article offers a Foucaultian genealogy of Integral theory, tracing its origins to the cultural and subjective contingencies of the British Empire, primarily in the work of Integral theory’s foundational thinker, Aurobindo Ghose. The article poses a primary critique of synthesis and evolution as mythological keys to Ultimate Reality which suggests that Zizek’s critique may have some validity, and offers the potential for a “critical integral theory” as an alternative. Situated in Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of becoming, and represented in the ideas and practices of a constellation of thinkers inclusive of Gurdjieff, Benjamin, and Trungpa, the article’s view of integration supports radical democracy as presented in the writings of Laclau and Mouffe as a model outcome for social and personal transformational practices. Keywords: ideology, integral, critical, becoming-other, transformational practice, Aurobindo, Deleuze, Guattari, Ziporyn, Tarthang, Trungpa, Benjamin, Gurdjieff, Laclau, Mouffe, Zizek Introduction In On Belief, Slavoj Zizek (2001) argues that the onslaught of the New Age ‘Asiatic’ thought, which, in its different guises, from the ‘Western Buddhism’ (today’s counterpoint to Western Marxism, as opposed to the ‘Asiatic’ Marxism-Leninism) to different ‘Taos,’ is establishing itself as the hegemonic1 ideology of global capitalism (p. 12). 1 A detailed examination of hegemony as a critical concept is beyond the scope of this paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Francisco Varela's Vision of the Immune System
    RUCH FILOZOFICZNY LXXV 2019 2 Bartłomiej Świątczak University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China ORCID: 0000-0001-6767-3064 e-mail: [email protected] Francisco Varela’s Vision of the Immune System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/RF.2019.030 Introduction Francisco Varela’s contribution to cognitive science and neurobiology is well known.1 Apart from introducing the concept of autopoiesis to- gether with Maturana, he developed a doctrine of enactivism, which by portraying cognition as inseparable from action challenged representa- tionist principles of classical cognitivism.2 Varela applied his unique per- spective on cognition and self also to immunology thereby advocating 1 Evan Thompson, Antoine Lutz, and Diego Cosmelli, “Neurophenomenology: An Introduction for Neurophilosophers”, in: Cognition and the brain: The philosophy and neuroscience movement, ed. Andrew Brook, Kathleen Akins (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 40–97; David Rudrauf, Antoine Lutz, Diego Cosmelli, Jean- Philippe Lachaux, Michel Le Van Quyen, “From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenol- ogy: Francisco Varela’s Exploration of the Biophysics of Being”, Biological Research 36, no. 1 (2003): 27–65; John Mingers, “The Cognitive Theories of Maturana and Varela”, Systems Practice, 4, no. 4 (1991): 319–338; Adrián G. Palacios, Juan Bacigalupo, “Fran- cisco Varela (1946–2001): Filling the Mind – Brain Gap: A Life Adventure”, Biological Research 36, no. 1 (2003): 9–12. 2 Francisco J. Varela, Eleanor Rosch, Evan Thompson, The Embodied Mind (Cam- bridge Mass.:
    [Show full text]
  • Brother David Steindl-Rast Papers
    Special Collections and University Archives : University Libraries Brother David Steindl-Rast Papers 1926-2010 22 boxes (33 linear ft.) Call no.: MS 892 Collection overview Brother David Steindl-Rast was born Franz Kuno in Vienna, Austria, in 1926. He discovered The Rule of St. Benedict as a young man, which sent him on a search for an authentic version of Benedictine practice. This search brought him through the Second World War in Vienna, where he earned a Ph.D from the University of Vienna in 1952 and to the Mount Savior Monastery in Elmira, New York, where he became a monk in 1953. Along with his friend Thomas Merton, Brother David is one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, leaving Mount Savior in the mid-1960s to study Zen Buddhism with Hakuun Yajutami, Shunayu Suzuki, and Soen Nakagawa. He was the first Benedictine to learn directly from Buddhist teachers and received Vatican support for his bridge-building work in 1967. Through Merton, Brother David met Thich Nhat Hanh, who introduced him to the peace movement and grounded Brother David's spirituality in a tradition of activism. When not in seclusion, Brother David has served as a teacher of contemplative prayer, the intersection of Zen and Catholicism, and gratefulness as a spiritual practice. Through many books and articles, lectures, and residencies in spiritual centers like Tassajara and the Esalen Institute, Brother David has developed an influential philosophy and much of the current popularity of mindfulness and Zen-influenced living and activism owes a debt to his teachings.
    [Show full text]
  • Print Layout 1
    LivingLit 04 8/30/04 5:45 PM Page 158 158 The Cultural Phenomenology of Literature by William Irwin Thompson Introduction First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me back to York for this conference, for this is a particularly appropriate time for me to return. If I were still on the faculty at York, this would be the year of my compul- sory retirement, so I look upon this as my Last Lecture or Swan Song. It is doubly appropriate for me to give this lecture here, for it was in this very room in 1971 when I was an Associate Professor of Humanities that I organized a conference entitled “Thinking on a Planetary Scale,” to which I invited the global theorist Bucky Fuller, the ecological archi- tect Paolo Soleri, and Richard Falk, Professor of International Law at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. The conference was my eVort to express to my colleagues that business as usual was not enough and that we were living through a radical juncture in history in which a new planetary culture was emerging, a culture that was distinct from the internationalism that had characterized the world-system since the end of World War II.1 Wissenschaft und Wissenskunst Since B. W. Powe has asked us in this conference to think about the meaning of literacy in an electronic age, let me take a moment to address myself to this, the central question of our gathering. In my own writings of the time when I was here at York – in works such as At the Edge of History and Passages about Earth – I tried to use the structure of Romantic “Poems of Description and Meditation,” as the internal structure for non-fiction essays.2 In this work, I was also trying to respond to the challenge of Marshall McLuhan’s work.
    [Show full text]