Desirability without Desire: Life Extension, Boredom and Spiritual Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 167-191
Author(s):  
Drew Chastain
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
John Martin Fischer ◽  
Immortal Life ◽  
Extended Life ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Additional Reason

AbstractIn response to Bernard Williams’ suspicion that we would inevitably become bored with immortal life, John Martin Fischer has argued that we could continue to enjoy repeatable pleasures such as fine wine, beautiful music, and spiritual experiences. In more recent work on near-death experiences, Fischer has also explored the non-religious meaning of spiritual experiences in more depth. I join this deeper exploration of spiritual experience, and I also join Williams’ critics who question his view that character and desire are needed to explain the desirability of life, while providing additional reason for concern that Williams’ way of valuing life may itself actually be a cause of boredom with life. With an eye to spiritual experience, I indicate how we can distance ourselves even further from Williams’ view, and I suggest how the attitude that life is good but death is not bad emerges from spiritual experience, as expressed in numerous religious and secular spiritual traditions. This lends support to the conclusion that radically extended life is desirable even if not actively desired.

Incidence of Near-Death and Intense Spiritual Experiences in an Intergenerational Sample: An Interpretation

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Eugene Thomas ◽  
Pamela E. Cooper ◽  
David J. Suscovich
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Entire Sample ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

Incidence of near-death and intense spiritual experiences were determined for a sample of 305 persons ranging in age from seventeen to eighty-five. Near-death experiences were reported by 28 per cent, and intense spiritual experiences by 34 per cent. Incidence of near-death reports did not vary significantly by age of respondents, but elderly respondents were significantly less likely to report intense spiritual experiences. Persons who reported a near-death experience were significantly more likely to report an intense spiritual experience as well. Probable causes for the relative infrequent reports of near-death and intense spiritual experiences among elderly respondents are explored, as well as reasons for association found between these types of experiences for the entire sample.

Autonomie, Charakter und praktische Vernunft: Überlegungen am Beispiel des Utilitarismus

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jay Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Personal Projects ◽  
Peter Railton ◽  
Order Reflection

AbstractThis paper explores the question whether utilitarianism is compatible with the autonomy of the moral agent. The paper begins by considering Bernard Williams' famous complaint that utilitarianism cannot do justice to the personal projects and commitments constitutive of character. Recent work (by Peter Railton among others) has established that a utilitarian agent need not be free of such personal projects and commitments, and could even affirm them morally at the level of second"order reflection. But a different and more subtle problem confronts this approach: the use of utilitarian principles to justify the cultivation of personal projects and attachments undermines the autonomy to support this objection, according to which autonomy is a matter of acting in a way one can reflectively endorse.

scholarly journals The Spirituality of Q

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Foster
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Privileged Access ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
The Way

The term spirituality is notoriously difficult to define, as is evidenced by the discussions between contemporary sociologists of religion. If there are any central elements to such a definition, they revolve around the search for the sacred, and the view that certain practices or beliefs lead to humans being placed in a position of privileged access to the transcendent dimension. Often such spiritual experiences and insights are the result of practices that seek deeper communication with the divine, or stem from contemplative reflection upon one’s purpose in a broader context of universal ontology. This discussion seeks to probe Q for its understanding of spirituality, both in terms of the way the text promotes communication with the divine, as well as offering heightened spiritual experience for adherents to its teaching. In essence, this is an exploration of the way the new religious movement reflected in Q offered its followers contact with the transcendent within the context of everyday human life.

scholarly journals The Awe-some Argument for Pantheism

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
T. Ryan Byerly
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Critical Engagement

Many pantheists have claimed that their view of the divine is motivated by a kind of spiritual experience. In this paper, I articulate a novel argument, inspired by recent work on moral exemplarism, that gives voice to this kind of motivation for pantheism. The argument is based on two claims about the emotion of awe, each of which is defended primarily via critical engagement with empirical research on the emotion. I also illustrate how this pathway to pantheism offers pantheists distinctive resources for responding to persistent objections to their view, and how it might lead to more exotic views incorporating pantheistic elements.

scholarly journals Cutting the Knot of the World Problem: Sri Aurobindo’s Experiential and Philosophical Critique of Advaita Vedānta

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 765
Author(s):  
Swami Medhananda
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
Philosophical Critique ◽  
The World ◽  
Philosophical Standpoint ◽  
The Universe

This article proposes to examine in detail Aurobindo’s searching—and often quite original—criticisms of Advaita Vedānta, which have not yet received the sustained scholarly attention they deserve. After discussing his early spiritual experiences and the formative influence of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda on his thought, I outline Aurobindo’s philosophy of “realistic Adwaita”. According to Aurobindo, the sole reality is the Divine Saccidānanda, which is not only the static impersonal Brahman but also the personal, dynamic Cit-Śakti (Consciousness-Force), which manifests as everything in this universe. At various points in his corpus, Aurobindo criticizes Advaita Vedānta on three fronts. From the standpoint of spiritual experience, Aurobindo argues that Śaṅkara’s philosophy is based on a genuine, but partial, experience of the Infinite Divine Reality: namely, the experience of the impersonal nondual Absolute and the corresponding conviction of the unreality of everything else. Aurobindo claims, on the basis of his own spiritual experiences, that there is a further stage of spiritual experience, when one realizes that the impersonal-personal Divine Reality manifests as everything in the universe. From a philosophical standpoint, Aurobindo questions the logical tenability of key Advaitic doctrines, including māyā, the exclusively impersonal nature of Brahman, and the metaphysics of an illusory bondage and liberation. Finally, from a scriptural standpoint, Aurobindo argues that the ancient Vedic hymns, the Upaniṣads, and the Bhagavad-Gītā, propound an all-encompassing Advaita philosophy rather than the world-denying Advaita philosophy Śaṅkara claims to find in them. This article focuses on Aurobindo’s experiential and philosophical critiques of Advaita Vedānta, as I have already discussed his new interpretations of the Vedāntic scriptures in detail elsewhere. The article’s final section explores the implications of Aurobindo’s life-affirming Advaitic philosophy for our current ecological crisis.

scholarly journals DA'WAH EXPERIENCE, SPIRITUAL, AND ECONOMIC RESILIENCE OF JAMAAH TABLIGH IN LANGSA ACEH

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Muhammad Dayyan ◽  
Ainun Mardhiah ◽  
Masdalifah Sembiring
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Economic Resilience ◽  
The Family

This article examines the experience of da'wah, spirituality and economic resilience of jamaah tabligh in Langsa City. Jamaah Tabligh is a community that consistently carries out its da'wah to invite people to worship Allah Almighty by praying in congregation in mosques. The method of da'wah is done in the form of going to people's homes, traveling out of the area where they live by leaving their families in between two days, a week or even 40 days known as khuruj. Through observation of da'wah activities and family conditions, interviews with 5 males and 5 female jamaah tabligh families and one focus group discussion found that da'wah experiences, spiritual experiences and economic resilience of the jamaah tabligh families. That da'wah experiences face a number of challenges in the form of rejection and expulsion from the community faced calmly and patiently. The spiritual experience of increasing the sense of faith in the form of belief in the mercy of Allah has had an impact on the tranquility of the life of the family of the congregation. In terms of family economic resilience by the standards of dharuriyah and hajjiyah it has been fulfilled through savings, assistance from other jamaah members and side jobs by the wife of the jamaah.

Phenomenology of Religious Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 251-267
Author(s):  
Joseph Olufemi Asha
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Significant Implication ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
The Road ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Everyday Situation

In the Christian tradition, a spiritual experience is a phenomenon that in some sense remains controversial. Nonetheless, spiritual experience in Christianity refers to the personalization of the faith in Christ that transcends the normal. This is, however, critically contested and regrettably unexplored. It lends credence to why contemporary research on religious experience reveals that Christian spiritual experiences have the element of supernatural intervention by the Holy Spirit, although supernatural must not be confused with spectacular. It might be spectacular, as in the case of Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Drawing upon extensive contemporary research, content analysis, and literature on religious experience, this study adopts descriptive methodology as techniques. The study situates religious experience as occurrence in an everyday situation of Christians through which they derive a clear inner realization of “the truth.” Findings reveal a significant implication for collective research on religious and spiritual experiences for Christians.

When Death Comes Too Late: Radical Life Extension and the Makropulos Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Michael Hauskeller
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
The World ◽  
Radical Life Extension ◽  
Do So ◽  
Makropulos Case

AbstractFamously, Bernard Williams has argued that although death is an evil if it occurs when we still have something to live for, we have no good reason to desire that our lives be radically extended because any such life would at some point reach a stage when we become indifferent to the world and ourselves. This is supposed to be so bad for us that it would be better if we died before that happens. Most critics have rejected Williams’ arguments on the grounds that it is far from certain that we will run out of things to live for, and I don't contest these objections. Instead, I am trying to show that they do not affect the persuasiveness of Williams’ argument, which in my reading does not rely on the claim that we will inevitably run out of things to live for, but on the far less contentious claim that it is not unthinkable we will do so and the largely ignored claim that if that happens, we will have died too late.

TRACS JIP – TTR Life Extension Process

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhyanjyoti Deka ◽  
Mike Campbell ◽  
Vinayak Patil ◽  
Michael Long Ge ◽  
Steve Wong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Initial Data ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Design Life ◽  
Extended Life ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Extension Analysis ◽  
Extension Process

Abstract The Tensioned Riser Assessment for Continued Service (TRACS) JIP develops a structured life extension process for TTR systems including single casing, dual casing, buoyancy can supported and tensioner supported TTRs. The JIP bridges regulatory and API frameworks and achieves industry consensus on analysis, inspections, and documentation. The life extension process developed in this JIP consists of detailed roadmaps that guide the operator through the different assessment steps starting from initial data gathering through to the development of the forward-looking IMP. The JIP life extension process is based on a threat assessment philosophy which ensures identification and assessment of all possible threats to the integrity of the TTR in its extended life. The JIP process is validated against three real life TTR systems that are nearing the end of their design lives. Potential threats to the integrity of these TTRs during the projected continued service beyond the design life are identified and specific inspection and analysis recommendations to safely manage or mitigate these threats are made. The JIP also provides TTR life extension analysis guidance while considering the opportunities to reduce conservatism compared to new designs. Inspection of TTRs is challenging due to accessibility issues and the pipe in pipe construction. Several subsea NDE inspection tools are surveyed in this JIP and their applicability to TTRs is discussed.

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