DOCSLIB.ORG

Quantum Spirituality

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Quantum Spirituality SCIENCE & RELIGION the gravitational field proposed centuries before by Newton, Quantum exhibited a holistic character that fit in well with spiritual ideas. Matter was particulate, occurring in lumps, and analyzed by the dis- Spirituality tasteful methods of reductionism in which objects are reduced to the sum of their parts. Fields, on the Victor J. Stenger other hand, were continuous— holistic—occurring everywhere in space, connecting everything to n his talk at a recent confer- PHYSICS AND SPIRIT everything else, and analyzable ence, Antony Flew defined only in the whole. Even today, spirit as "incorporeal sub- The idea of spirit as a substantial occultists confuse natural electro- stance." As a physicist, I can component of the universe is of magnetic effects with "auras" sur- relate to that. If such a thing as course an ancient one, funda- rounding living things. spirit exists, then I have no prob- mental to the traditional dualistic Although the atomic theory of lem with it being incorporeal. It view most humans hold of the matter was well developed by the does not have to be made of mat- universe and themselves as part late nineteenth century, it had not ter as long as it has "substance." of that universe. In this view, yet been convincingly verified at I interpret this to mean that, planets, rock, trees, and the that time. Many chemists, and a although spirit may not be com- human body are made of matter, few physicists like Lodge, still posed of quarks and electrons or but matter is not everything. held open the possibility that mat- other known constituents of mat- Beyond matter exists mind, soul, ter might be continuous. The ter, it still may be a meaningful or spirit, an ethereal substance mathematics of fields had been concept, amenable to empirical that may even be more "real" successfully applied to solids and testing or other rational analysis. than matter—the very quintes- fluids, which appear continuous One test for whether a concept sence of being. and wavy on the everyday scale. has "substance" is to use In the mid-nineteenth century, These scientists suggested that Occam's razor to excise it from many scientists thought that the continuity, not atomism, consti- all discourse. If the essential con- marvelous new discoveries of sci- tuted the prime unifying principle tent of discourse remains un- ence, and the methods of science, for describing the universe of both changed, then I would say the could be applied to the world of matter, light, and perhaps spirit. concept has no substance. Of the spirit as well as to the world This comforting notion was course, like most scientific tests, of matter. For example, Sir Oliver shattered as the twentieth century this can only be used to falsify Lodge, a physicist who had got underway. First, the aether the concept, not verify it. helped demonstrate the reality of was found not to exist. Second, the electromagnetic waves, argued atomic theory was confirmed. Victor J. Stenger is Professor of that, if wireless telegraphy was Third, light was found to be a Physics and Astronomy at the possible, then so was wireless component of matter, composed of University of Hawaii and the telepathy. Lodge, like most others particles we now call photons. author of Not By Design: The of the period, believed that elec- And so, discreteness, rather than Origin of the Universe (Pro- tromagnetic waves, including continuity, became the unifying metheus Books, 1988) and light, were vibrations of a fric- principle of physics, with the uni- Physics and Psychics: The tionless medium, the aether, that verse composed solely of particu- Search for a World Beyond the pervaded the universe. It seemed late matter. Quantum mechanics Senses (Prometheus Books, plausible that this medium might was developed to describe mater- 1990). This article is based on also be responsible for the trans- ial phenomena in all their various, his latest book, The Unconscious mission of thoughts, that it was discrete forms. Quantum: Metaphysics in the long-sought substance of However, the situation was not Modern Physics and Cosmology mind and spirit. quite so tidy as this short and (Prometheus Books, 1995). The electromagnetic field, like simplified review may imply. The 57 WINTER 1997/98 SCIENCE & RELIGION phenomena that originally led space and time. vided a new model for the notion people to postulate its wave Quantum phenomena seem to of spirit. They have been wit- nature of light did not go away. be very mysterious, and where tingly and unwittingly encour- Those observations were correct. mysteries are imagined, the aged by various statements made Furthermore, other forms of supernatural cannot be far by physicists, some of consider- matter were shown to also exhibit behind. However, despite these able distinction. wave properties. Electrons were misgivings, quantum mechanics Eugene Wigner is widely found to diffract through small developed as a quantitative phys- quoted in the new literature of openings in exactly the same way ical theory that has proven itself quantum mysticism. He once as light. capable of making calculations said: "The laws of quantum The fact that particles some- and predictions to a high level of mechanics itself cannot be for- times behaved as waves and accuracy. After 70 years of mulated ... without recourse to waves as particles was called the exhaustive testing, no observation the concept of consciousness."' "wave-particle duality." Although has been found to be inconsistent Physicist Amit Goswami sees a matter was sufficient to encom- with quantum mechanics as a "self-aware universe," with quantum mechanics providing Quantum phenomena seem to be very mys- support for claims of paranormal phenomena. He says: "... psy- terious, and where mysteries are imagined, chic phenomena, such as distant the supernatural cannot be far behind. viewing and out-of-body experi- ences, are examples of the nonlo- pass all known physical phenom- formal, mathematical theory. cal operation of consciousness. "2 ena, the apparent twofold nature Quantum mechanics dealt In the United States today, of matter gave diehard dualists early with the problem of the alternative healing is all the rage. some comfort. Some associated wave nature of matter by intro- Traditional folk-healing tech- waves with mind. But waves and ducing a mathematical quantity niques are touted as holistic, in particles were not two separate called the "wave function." contrast to the reductionistic elementary substances but char- Schrödinger's equation was used methods of modern Western acteristics of the same substance. to calculate how the wave func- medicine. Again, quantum Whether a physical entity was a tion evolved with time; the mechanics provides a source of wave or a particle seemed to absolute square of the wave func- inspiration. Two recent best- depend on what you measured. tion gave the probability that a sellers by Deepak Chopra contain Measure its position, and you con- body would be found at a partic- the word quantum in their titles: cluded that the entity is a material ular position. Quantum Healing: Exploring the body. Measure its wavelength, and In 1927, Einstein initiated a Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine you concluded that the entity is debate on quantum mechanics and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: some type of continuous field. with Niels Bohr that continues The Quantum Alternative to Furthermore, you can imagine today, long after their deaths, as Growing Old.3 deciding which quantity to mea- others have taken up the argu- sure at the last instant, long after ments of one side or the other. the entity had been emitted from Initially Einstein objected to the HIDDEN VARIABLES its source, which might be a dis- picture, retained today in most Despite the claims made in many tant galaxy. textbooks, in which the wave books, neither psychic phenom- function instantaneously "col- ena4 nor the vast array of alter- lapses" upon measurement. He nate healing methods5 are sup- QUANTUM MYSTICISM called this a "spooky action at a ported by controlled, replicable Some have inferred from this puz- distance" because it implied that laboratory studies. The research zle that the very nature of the uni- signals must travel at infinite cannot be used as evidence for verse is not objective, but depends speeds across the wave front to mind-over-matter. Nor can on the consciousness of the tell the wave function to go to quantum mechanics be used to observer. This latest wrinkle on zero in the places where nothing make these claims more credible. ancient idealism implies that the is detected. As we will now see, the mys- universe exists only within some To modern dualists, the holis- teries and apparent paradoxes of cosmic, quantum field of mind, tic quantum wave function, with quantum mechanics arise only with the human mind part of that its instantaneous collapse upon when we try to cast the theory in field and existing throughout all the act of observation, has pro- words instead of equations, FREE INQUIRY 58 SCIENCE & RELIGION applying the language of every- lowers have yet produced a mech- universe of the mystic's fondest day human experience to a phys- anism for generating a priori the desires. The problem of nonlocal- ical realm where that experience quantum potential. ity is dismissed by claiming that may not be relevant. The hidden-variables ap- no communication of signals The words used to describe proach is based on the notion, faster than light takes place. quant um mechanics in conven- which Einstein always believed, This conclusion can be proven tional physics textbooks were that quantum mechanics is fine to be a general property of quan- gleaned from the writings of as far as it goes, as a statistical tum theory,t 0 and will be true for Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and theory, but that some determinis- Bohm's theory as long as Bohm's Max Born, the primary authors of tic subquantum theory that lies theory is consistent with quan- what is called the "Copenhagen behind physical events remains to tum mechanics.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 151545957.Pdf
    Universit´ede Montr´eal Towards a Philosophical Reconstruction of the Dialogue between Modern Physics and Advaita Ved¯anta: An Inquiry into the Concepts of ¯ak¯a´sa, Vacuum and Reality par Jonathan Duquette Facult´ede th´eologie et de sciences des religions Th`ese pr´esent´ee `ala Facult´edes ´etudes sup´erieures en vue de l’obtention du grade de Philosophiae Doctor (Ph.D.) en sciences des religions Septembre 2010 c Jonathan Duquette, 2010 Universit´ede Montr´eal Facult´edes ´etudes sup´erieures et postdoctorales Cette th`ese intitul´ee: Towards A Philosophical Reconstruction of the Dialogue between Modern Physics and Advaita Ved¯anta: An Inquiry into the Concepts of ¯ak¯a´sa, Vacuum and Reality pr´esent´ee par: Jonathan Duquette a ´et´e´evalu´ee par un jury compos´edes personnes suivantes: Patrice Brodeur, pr´esident-rapporteur Trichur S. Rukmani, directrice de recherche Normand Mousseau, codirecteur de recherche Solange Lefebvre, membre du jury Varadaraja Raman, examinateur externe Karine Bates, repr´esentante du doyen de la FESP ii Abstract Toward the end of the 19th century, the Hindu monk and reformer Swami Vivekananda claimed that modern science was inevitably converging towards Advaita Ved¯anta, an important philosophico-religious system in Hinduism. In the decades that followed, in the midst of the revolution occasioned by the emergence of Einstein’s relativity and quantum physics, a growing number of authors claimed to discover striking “par- allels” between Advaita Ved¯anta and modern physics. Such claims of convergence have continued to the present day, especially in relation to quantum physics. In this dissertation, an attempt is made to critically examine such claims by engaging a de- tailed comparative analysis of two concepts: ¯ak¯a´sa in Advaita Ved¯anta and vacuum in quantum physics.
    [Show full text]
  • Skeptic Redesign
    ARTICLE Quantum Consciousness and Other Spooky Myths Quantum mechanics is mysterious. Consciousness is mysterious. The thought that there may be a connection has led to a lot of quantum biological pseudoscience. BY MARTIN BIER ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS HAVE PASSED since coordinate axes are not to be thought of as tangible quantum mechanics was first developed. Quantum geometrical objects with real directions in three di- mechanics proved very successful in describing mensional space. They are part of a mathematical what is happening on the atomic level. The emission model in which there may be infinitely many such of light by objects when they are heated up (e.g., a axes. There is no equation that describes the col- light bulb), spectral lines, and later things like super- lapse. The numerical outcome of the observation conductivity, superfluidity, and the laser could be depends on which of the coordinate axes the wave well understood and described with quantum me- function collapses on. It is only probabilities that chanics. are associated with the different coordinate axes Quantum mechanics is not an approximation or that can be derived from Schrödinger’s equation. an ad hoc trick to make the equations agree with real- “Observation” is a somewhat vague notion and ity and with each other. It is a fundamental theory many physicists have a problem with its central role that is supposed to describe what is really happening in quantum mechanics. Furthermore, the element at the subatomic level. A wave function is the basis of of randomness in the collapse of the wave function the theory and Schrödinger's equation, named after is troublesome, and led to Einstein’s famous remark the German physicist Erwin Schrödinger, explains that “God does not play dice.” Richard Feynman, in the evolution of that wave function over time.
    [Show full text]
  • Professional Liability Insurance Application for IICT Members
    Professional Liability Insurance Application for IICT Members Section I: APPLICANT INFORMATION Allied Health Occupation for which Professional Liability coverage is being applied for: (Please attach a current license if required or other evidence of your certification as anAllied Health Professional as described above.) Applicant’s Name: Mailing Address: City: State: Zip: E-mail Address: Daytime Phone: Evening Phone: Fax: Date of Birth: Section II: EMPLOYMENT/OCCUPATION INFORMATION Indicate your total number of years experience relevant to the profession for which you are seeking coverage. Total: (Be sure to include any time you may have worked under supervision) o Employed* o Self-Employed Full-time (25 hours or greater)** o Self-Employed Part-time (less than 25 hours a week)** o Student - Anticipated Graduation Date: Student’s Permanent Address: City: State: Zip: Student’s Permanent E-mail: *Are you or your spouse also a shareholder or have an equity position exceeding 5% in your employer? o Yes o No *Are you incorporated (including Sub chapter S Corporations), a partner, owner or officer to your employer? o Yes o No **Are there any other individuals, employed or associated with otherwise, providing professional services on your behalf, or on behalf of an entity in which you or your spouse has an ownership interest? o Yes o No Highest degree obtained: o High School | Graduation Date: MM/DD/YY __________ o Associate | Graduation Date: MM/DD/YY __________ o Bachelors | Graduation Date: MM/DD/YY __________ o Masters | Graduation Date: MM/DD/YY __________ o Doctorate | Graduation Date: MM/DD/YY __________ Please indicate your profession for which you are seeking coverage from our listing of eligible covered occupations: ______________________________________ 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Science and Religion' Is
    Investigating the ‘Science’ in ‘Eastern Religions’: A methodological inquiry The trope of ‘science and religion’ is usually employed in western academic circles as a shorthand for the historical narratives and the philosophical analyses of the various overlaps, oppositions, and disjunctions between empirical scientific methodologies and specifically Christian doctrines of God, creation, and redemption. Over the last five decades or so, the key terms ‘science’ and ‘religion’, understood in terms of these referents, have been minutely scrutinised, and various typologies of the relations, some more amicable than the others, between these categories have been proposed. More recently, the rubric of ‘Eastern Religions’ has sometimes been added to these discussions, where this category encompasses diverse spiritual strands which have received varying degrees of scholarly attention. The engagements of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhisms with quantum physics and neurobiology have been quite extensively studied, and various interpretations of the empirical sciences have been offered also from certain Hindu Vedantic perspectives. From a historical perspective, there is a conceptual-institutional divergence between the discourses of ‘science and Christianity’ and of ‘science and eastern religions’, in that while European science and Christianity emerged from a common intellectual and institutional matrix of post- Reformation cultures, and were thus crucially shaped by their mutual borrowings and hostilities, European science is a more recent arrival in various
    [Show full text]
  • 220 Artforum
    220 ARTFORUM OCT.FEAT.Raymond.indd 220 9/6/12 5:07 PM Opposite page: Chris Johanson, Above: Chris Johanson, Same Untitled, 1996, acrylic on wood, Brain, Same Body, Different 60 x 40". Day, 2011, acrylic and latex on wood, 28 x 49". AS THE STORY GOES, about 12,000 years ago human beings migrated to the West Coast of North America. They came from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and brought with them a system of spiritual beliefs based in rituals of astral projection, animal metamorphosis, and the healing séance. Approxi- mately 11,500 years later, another migration arrived Golden State at the Pacific Coast, this time from Europe—human beings of a decidedly more monotheistic bent, intent JON RAYMOND ON THE ART OF CHRIS JOHANSON on transforming the wilderness into an open-air fac- tory of resource extraction. At this axis of magic and enterprise, ritual and engineering, Chris Johanson was born in San Jose, California, in 1968. After passing his childhood in the pre-Silicon Bay Area, he spent his teenage years skateboarding and listening to punk. He went to col- lege briefly but withdrew before graduating, to pursue the more pressing destiny of becoming a painter— OCTOBER 2012 221 OCT.FEAT.Raymond.indd 221 9/6/12 12:39 PM Johanson’s rough-hewn cartoon first of houses, then of art. His work met with rapid zines, posters, and other underground ephemera, acclaim, with early shows at Alleged Gallery in New offering a primitive rebuttal to the city’s storied style taps a realist vein, documenting York and inclusion in Yerba Buena Center for the countercultural graphics—Zap Comix as drawn by his peculiar, late--new age, Northern Arts’ 1997 Bay Area Now triennial.
    [Show full text]
  • New Age Science 1
    CHAPTER THREE NEW AGE SCIENCE 1 DaB ich erkenne, was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhalt, Schau alle Wirkenskraft und Samen und tu nicht mehr in W orten kramen J.W. von Goethe, Faust I THE QUEST FOR A UNIFIED WORLDVIEW One of the notable characteristics of New Age thinking is its high regard for modern science. This may seem surprising at first sight because New Agers also tend to distrust and reject academic rationalism; but, in fact, the contra­ diction is only apparent. Modern scientific developments-especially in theo­ retical physics-appeal to New Age concerns for two reasons. On the one hand, they are interpreted in such a way as to legitimate a spiritual worldview; but, at the same time ( and for the very same reasons) they also serve as weapons to attack the existing scientific consensus. This is possible because the "old" and the "new" science are perceived as radical opposites, if not in practice then at least in principle. Traditional science-associated with the academic estab­ lishment-is thoroughly condemned as materialistic and conducive to human alienation, but the New Age has discovered the new science as a potential ally against it. Following Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions2, New Age believers claim that established science reflects an outdated reductionis­ tic paradigm bound to be replaced by a new paradigm based on a holistic per­ spective. The suggestion that the evolutionary thrust of science now leads it to reject the very materialism it once helped to create is as inspiring to some peo­ ple as it is outrageous to others.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantum Quackery
    Quantum Quackery Quantum physics is claimed to support the mystical notion that the mind creates reality. However, an objective reality, with no special role for consciousness, human or cosmic, is consistent with all observations. VICTOR J. STENGER ertain interpretations of quantum mechanics, the rev- olutionary theory developed early in the century to Caccount for the anomalous behavior of light and atoms, are being misconstrued so as to imply that only thoughts are real and that the physical universe is the product of a cosmic mind to which the human mind is linked throughout space and time. This interpretation has provided an ostensibly scientific basis for various mind-over-matter claims, from ESP to alternative medicine. "Quantum mysti- cism" also forms part of the intellectual backdrop for the post- modern assertion that science has no claim on objective reality. The word "quantum" appears frequendy in New Age and modern mystical literature. For example, physician Deepak Chopra (1989) has successfully promoted a notion he calls quantum healing, which suggests we can cure all our ills by the application of sufficient mental power. According to Chopra, this profound conclusion can be drawn from quantum physics, which he says has demon- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/February 1997 traditional teaching of Eastern mystics: that human consciousness and the universe form an intercon- nected, irreducible whole. An example: To the enlightened man . whose consciousness embraces the universe, to him the universe becomes his "body," while the physical
    [Show full text]
  • The Quantum God: an Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science
    The Quantum God: An Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science By Meaghean H. Richardson A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Theology and Religious Studies June, 2015, Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright Meaghean H. Richardson, 2015. Approved: Dr. Anne Marie Dalton Supervisor Approved: Dr. Mary Hale Reader Approved: Dr. Magi Abdul-Masih Examiner Date: June 5, 2015 2 ABSTRACT The Quantum God: An Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science By Meaghean H. Richardson This thesis is an investigation of the image of God arising from understandings of quantum science and argues that it enhances ideas about God. It considers the significance of religious interpretations of quantum science and briefly examines the case of Christian theology and God’s actions in the world. The nature of quantum phenomena requires the use of imagery likened to that used in many mystical and religious traditions. Using a multivalued approach, I give equitable consideration to multiple scientific and theological interpretations to describe the God-concept presented by sources writing on the mystical implications of quantum science. The quantum demands an intellectual and academic openness, requiring the use of resources outside of science, and pushes for a holistic approach and a transition to a postmodern paradigm. Therefore, the quantum is said to be a re-enchanting force, calling for a re-evaluation of the spiritual dimension in our overall understanding of reality. June 5, 2015 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first thank my parents for their support of every kind while I chase my dreams.
    [Show full text]
  • Using Pseudoscience to Teach Scientific Thinking
    PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE published: 17 April 2014 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00336 Hauntings, homeopathy, and the Hopkinsville Goblins: using pseudoscience to teach scientific thinking Rodney Schmaltz1* and Scott O. Lilienfeld 2 1 Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada 2 Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA Edited by: With access to information ever increasing, it is essential that students acquire the skills to Gretchen Maria Reevy, California distinguish fact from fiction. By incorporating examples of pseudoscience into lectures, State University, East Bay, USA instructors can provide students with the tools needed to understand the difference Reviewed by: between scientific and pseudoscientific or paranormal claims. We discuss examples Melinda J. Mollette, Gwinnett County Public Schools, USA involving psychics, ghosts, aliens, and other phenomena in relation to scientific thinking. E. Michael Nussbaum, University of In light of research literature demonstrating that presenting and dispelling scientific Nevada, Las Vegas, USA misconceptions in the classroom is an effective means of countering non-scientific or *Correspondence: pseudoscientific beliefs, we provide examples of pseudoscience that can be used to help Rodney Schmaltz, Department of students acquire healthy skepticism while avoiding cynicism. Psychology, MacEwan University, City Centre Campus, 6-370, 10700-104 Keywords: scientific thinking, skepticism, pseudoscience, teaching resources, introductory psychology Avenue, Edmonton, AB, Canada e-mail: [email protected] From Dr. Oz promoting homeopathy to Deepak Chopra extolling same time, there is hope. Researchers have found that short-term the virtues of quantum healing, students are bombarded with skeptical thinking improves among students who have had direct questionable claims that require careful examination.
    [Show full text]
  • FREE Lectures
    The Ranch/Larimer County Fairgrounds McKee Building FREE Lectures Remember to check the doorprize board at the entrance to see if you’ve won a prize! $5/day $1 discount with a non-perishable food $8/weekend donation to our Children 12 & under Free local food bank Special thanks to our Fair Sponsors: HolisticLifeChoices.com BellaSpark.com www.Holistic-Fairs.com 2012 Fall Holistic Fair Readers and Practitioners Access Consciousness – Robin Maher Clairvoyant – Tracy Binol Sample tools and techniques to reduce your stress, easily add Certified Clairvoyant. Tarot Cards, Psychic Readings, Past Life relaxation to your life and change your relationships! Readings, and Healings. Gain insight to help bring joy and love into 970-204-9551 • [email protected] your life. www.RobinMaher.AccessConsciousness.com 303-667-6365 • [email protected] • www.TracyBinol.com Align – Dr. Brian Flemming, DC Connected Chiropractic – Cori Schrader Align is your choice for whole body wellness. Align will be providing Scanning and Massage. spinal and postural analysis tests using our SAM unit (Spinal Analysis 970-587-7082 • [email protected] Machine). Come see if our Doctors of Chiropractic can help you www.connectedchiropractic.com achieve a life of youthfulness and vitality as you deserve! 970-663-CARE (2273) • [email protected] Destiny Insights: Spiritual Readings and Healing www.AlignLoveland.com – Kawika Cornelius Our team is trained in hearing God’s voice, releasing Spiritual Andryl Angel Channeling – Chris and Linda Neelis Readings to people: insight into the future, insight into people’s Voted ‘top psychic’ by Rocky Mountain News, Chris is a nationally- giftings and qualities, wisdom for life choices, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Conclusion What Is the Subtle Body?
    1 ABSTRACT This dissertation traces the historical genealogy of the term “subtle body,” following it from its initial coinage among the Cambridge Platonists back to the Neoplatonic sources from which they drew, then forward into Indology, Theosophy, Carl Jung, and the American Counterculture, showing the expansion of the term’s semantic range to include Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese materials. 2 Acknowledgements First thanks go to my committee members. I never would have entertained the possibility of doing a project like this were it not for the iconoclastic tendencies of Jeff Kripal and Anne Klein under whom a conventional dissertation would be nigh impossible to write. Thanks Jeff for helping me contact the daimon , and Anne for teaching me to read between the lines, to see the basic space in which text dances. Thanks to Deborah Harter for her careful, aesthetic editorial gaze. Beyond the committee, Bill Parsons’ genealogy of mysticism exerted no small impact on my own method. Niki Clements showed me the cool side of Hegel. And thanks to Claire Fanger, for the esotericism, and April DeConick, for the gnosis. Thanks to Gregory Shaw for the secrets of Iamblichean theurgy and to Michael Murphy for the siddhi camps out of which this genealogy was born. Thanks also to Pierre Delattre for reading an early version and providing magical feedback. I constantly bounced ideas off my infinitely patient classmates: Justin Kelley, Claire Villareal, Erin Prophet, Ben Mayo, Renee Ford, Anne Parker, Justine Bakker, Gregory Perron, Tim Grieve-Carlson, Tommy Symmes, Kassim Abdulbassit, Victor Nardo, Oihane Iglesias Telleria, and Namleela Free Jones.
    [Show full text]
  • Does the Christian Worldview Provide a Place for the Law of Attraction? (Part 1): an Apologetic Evaluation of the Roots of This Doctrine
    Verbum et Ecclesia ISSN: (Online) 2074-7705, (Print) 1609-9982 Page 1 of 9 Original Research Does the Christian worldview provide a place for the law of attraction? (Part 1): An apologetic evaluation of the roots of this doctrine Authors: This article investigates the roots of the so-called spiritual law of attraction that some Christian Daniël J. Maritz1 preachers today describe as an important biblical law. One of the proponents of this idea, Henk G. Stoker1 Pastor At Boshoff of the Christian Revival Church (CRC), refers in his sermons to the law of Affiliations: attraction as a powerful principle derived from the Word of God. This idea bears striking 1Faculty Theology, North- similarities to the positive confession doctrine as taught by popular Word of Faith preachers. West University, The basic claim of this spiritual ‘law’ is that human beings create their own future through Potchefstroom Campus, their thoughts and words. The article shows the idea of a spiritual law of attraction as a New South Africa Age doctrine that flows from a New Age worldview. Preaching prosperity through the law of Corresponding author: attraction is not in accordance with orthodox, historical Christianity or the Christian worldview. Daniel Maritz, dan.jacobus.maritz@gmail. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article challenges the secular com view that intangible thoughts and words can take on tangible reality. This is important since this secular idea is infiltrating the Christian church. It is already being preached as biblical Dates: although the roots thereof are clearly shown to originate from the New Age movement. Received: 20 Jan.
    [Show full text]