scholarly journals Consciousness of God as God is: The phenomenology of Christian centering prayer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benno Alexander Blaschke
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
First Person ◽  
Centering Prayer ◽  
Second Person ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Theistic Experience ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Way

<p>In this study I aim to give an alternative approach to the way we theorise in the philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. Specifically, I aim to shift debate on the phenomenal nature of contemplative states of consciousness away from textual sources and towards reliable and descriptively rich first-person data originating in contemporary practices of lived traditions.  The heart of this dissertation lies in rich qualitative interview data obtained through recently developed second-person approaches in the science of consciousness. I conducted in-depth phenomenological interviews with 20 Centering Prayer teachers and practitioners. The interviews covered the larger trajectory of their contemplative paths and granular detail of the dynamics of recent seated prayer sessions. I aided my second-person method with a “radical participation” approach to fieldwork at St Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass. In this study I present nuanced phenomenological analyses of the first-person data regarding the beginning to intermediate stages of the Christian contemplative path, as outlined by the Centering Prayer tradition and described by Centering Prayer contemplatives.  My presentation of the phenomenology of Centering Prayer is guided by a synthetic map of Centering Prayer’s (Keating School) contemplative path and model of human consciousness, which is grounded in the first-person data obtained in this study and takes into account the tradition’s primary sources. This includes: (1) an outline of the stages of the contemplative path; (2) the levels of consciousness (ordinary, spiritual and divine) and the type of experiential content (coarse, subtle and very subtle/divine presence) proper to each stage of the path; and (3) corresponding types of self (false, true and separate-self sense).  My study addresses three meta-issues in the field pertaining to method, description and theory. First, I offer a new framework for the comparative study of contemplative practices and experiences, alongside a sound second-person method for collecting first-person data from contemplative practitioners. Second, I provide an effective framework for developing phenomenological accounts that are descriptively faithful, analytically transparent and theoretically useful. Third, I draw on the phenomenological accounts developed in this study to reconsider important theses advanced in the contemporary philosophy and comparative study of mysticism.  On this basis, I argue that practitioners phenomenally apprehend union states, specifically prayer of full union, through experiential primitives, such as a “sense of presence”, and without a “God-identification element”. Consequently, union states are phenomenologically of an unidentified reality and therefore not theistic, in Katz’s and Pike’s senses. However, there might be some sense in which they are phenomenologically of God, because they could be practitioners’ consciousness of God as God is; but this would empirically disconfirm received views of how God should be experienced. This finding challenges arguments for a unique theistic experience, designed to uphold a fundamental distinction between theistic and nontheistic experiences. Since Christian practitioners do not necessarily have unique theistic experiences in union, in the way that Katz and Pike require, there is at least some sense in which contemplatives from different traditions and cultures could have experiences similar in content and structure.</p>

scholarly journals Consciousness of God as God is: The phenomenology of Christian centering prayer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benno Alexander Blaschke
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
First Person ◽  
Centering Prayer ◽  
Second Person ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Theistic Experience ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Way

<p>In this study I aim to give an alternative approach to the way we theorise in the philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. Specifically, I aim to shift debate on the phenomenal nature of contemplative states of consciousness away from textual sources and towards reliable and descriptively rich first-person data originating in contemporary practices of lived traditions.  The heart of this dissertation lies in rich qualitative interview data obtained through recently developed second-person approaches in the science of consciousness. I conducted in-depth phenomenological interviews with 20 Centering Prayer teachers and practitioners. The interviews covered the larger trajectory of their contemplative paths and granular detail of the dynamics of recent seated prayer sessions. I aided my second-person method with a “radical participation” approach to fieldwork at St Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass. In this study I present nuanced phenomenological analyses of the first-person data regarding the beginning to intermediate stages of the Christian contemplative path, as outlined by the Centering Prayer tradition and described by Centering Prayer contemplatives.  My presentation of the phenomenology of Centering Prayer is guided by a synthetic map of Centering Prayer’s (Keating School) contemplative path and model of human consciousness, which is grounded in the first-person data obtained in this study and takes into account the tradition’s primary sources. This includes: (1) an outline of the stages of the contemplative path; (2) the levels of consciousness (ordinary, spiritual and divine) and the type of experiential content (coarse, subtle and very subtle/divine presence) proper to each stage of the path; and (3) corresponding types of self (false, true and separate-self sense).  My study addresses three meta-issues in the field pertaining to method, description and theory. First, I offer a new framework for the comparative study of contemplative practices and experiences, alongside a sound second-person method for collecting first-person data from contemplative practitioners. Second, I provide an effective framework for developing phenomenological accounts that are descriptively faithful, analytically transparent and theoretically useful. Third, I draw on the phenomenological accounts developed in this study to reconsider important theses advanced in the contemporary philosophy and comparative study of mysticism.  On this basis, I argue that practitioners phenomenally apprehend union states, specifically prayer of full union, through experiential primitives, such as a “sense of presence”, and without a “God-identification element”. Consequently, union states are phenomenologically of an unidentified reality and therefore not theistic, in Katz’s and Pike’s senses. However, there might be some sense in which they are phenomenologically of God, because they could be practitioners’ consciousness of God as God is; but this would empirically disconfirm received views of how God should be experienced. This finding challenges arguments for a unique theistic experience, designed to uphold a fundamental distinction between theistic and nontheistic experiences. Since Christian practitioners do not necessarily have unique theistic experiences in union, in the way that Katz and Pike require, there is at least some sense in which contemplatives from different traditions and cultures could have experiences similar in content and structure.</p>

scholarly journals The Disgrace of Womankind in the Ancient and Modern Civilization and Cultures. A Comparative Analysis with the Teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)

rahatulquloob ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2(2)) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Dr. Aziz ur Rehman Saifee ◽  
Dr. Muhammad Ishaq Alam ◽  
Prof. Dr. Ubaid Ahmed Khan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Way ◽  
Economic Inequalities

The present study sheds light on the disgrace of women over the centuries. The way this world has been treating and treats at present, women, and how different culture in context of religious has given the status is the focal points of this analysis. The present-day woman is not an embodiment of the slogans of liberty, equality and freedom. The present-day woman is what she was never before. The research investigates how this particular status has been a subject to the contrary practices of the above mentioned Slogans. Do Slogans embody the existence of women or they just create an allusion? The comparative study and analysis of women status in different religions’ and cultures pinpoints the actual physical mental, social and economic inequalities they have been suff-ering through. So the very idea of a liberated woman is the question the present study seeks to answer. Moreover, it explores what status Islam has given to women in real, and what misinterpretations are associate to their status. 

Financial Entrepreneurship in Three Emerging Economies

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Lyndon Murphy ◽  
Abdul-Fatahi Abdulai ◽  
Khushnood Anwar ◽  
Ahmed Abdullah ◽  
Brychan Celfyn Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Important Influence ◽  
Global Dynamics ◽  
Fundamental Model ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Way

This chapter compiles an up-to-date and academically grounded study on enterprise financing in the emerging economies of Ghana, Pakistan and Yemen in terms of global dynamics. The research question addressed ‘what is the nature of financial entrepreneurship in the three countries of Ghana, Pakistan and Yemen as emerging economies'. The methodology used is a comparative study of the three countries involving an investigation of the economic background, financial bodies, enterprises, and funding SMEs to determine the nature of financial entrepreneurship in the three countries as emerging economies. In response to the research question it was found that financial bodies have an important influence on enterprises especially in terms of the way SMEs are funded. From the findings of the comparative study a fundamental model was developed as the main contribution to knowledge concerning the financing of SMEs in emerging economies taking into account important financial aspects, the process of entrepreneurship and the significant outputs of SME activities and growth.

Comparative cognitive studies, not folk phylogeny, please

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-123
Author(s):  
Colin Allen
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
First Person ◽  
Cognitive Studies ◽  
The Comparative Study

AbstractBarresi & Moore (B&M) provide a useful tool for the comparative study of social cognition that could, however, be improved by more subtle analysis of first person information about intentional relations. Knowledge of misrepresentation also needs to be better handled within the theory. I urge skepticism about B&M's sweeping phylogenetic claims.

scholarly journals Paving the Way for Interreligious Dialogue, Tolerance, and Harmony: Following Mukti Ali’s Path

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
Muslim Scholar ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The People ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Way

A known Indonesian Muslim scholar Mukti Ali (1923-2004) was very much concerned with dialogue, tolerance, and harmony among the people of different traditions, cultures, and religions. In his many academic works, he stressesed the importance of promoting, strengthening, and maintaining intercultural and interreligious dialogue, tolerance, and harmony. Not only did he produce various academic works, but also made efforts in putting his intercultural and interreligious ideas into practice. Both as a scholar and expert in the comparative study of religions and as Minister of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia (1971-1978), Mukti Ali endlessly promoted intercultural and interreligiuos diologue, tolerance, and harmony. Realizing that Indonesia is a pluralistic society, Mukti Ali adopted an approach called ‘agree in disagreement’ in the effort of creating and supporting tolerance, harmony, and security among people of different religious traditions. This paper will highlight the principles and values which Mukti Ali struggled for during his long administrative and academic careers.[Mukti Ali (1923-2004) adalah salah seorang intelektual Muslim ternama di Indonesia. Dia dedikasikan hidupnya untuk menyemai dialog, toleransi dan kehidupan harmonis antar tradisi, budaya dan agama yang beragam. Dalam berbagai karya akademiknya, Mukti Ali selalu menekankan pentingnya kehidupan harmonis dan toleransi antar pemeluk agama dan budaya. Lebih dari itu, dia melampaui hanya sekedar batas pemikiran dengan mengimplementasikan gagasan-gagasannya tersebut. Sebagai seorang ilmuwan dengan keahlian perbandingan agama dan sebagai Menteri Agama RI (1971-1978), Mukti Ali dengan kukuh memperjuangkan dialog, toleransi dan kehidupan harmonis antar agama dan budaya. Mukti Ali sadar, Indonesia adalah negara yang plural, karena itu dia menawarkan pendekatan “agree in disagreement” untuk menciptakan harmoni dan toleransi tersebut. Tulisan ini mengulas prinsip dan nilai yang diperjuangkan Mukti Ali selama karir akademiknya dan sebagai Menteri Agama.]

Dravidian Studies IV

1944 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Burrow
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Bishop caldwell, the founder of the comparative study of the Dravidian languages, was interested not only in the relationship of those languages among themselves, but also in the question of their connection with other families of languages outside India. His investigations in this direction led him to believe that the Dravidian languages are connected with what he called the “Scythian” family of languages. By the term “Scẏthian” Caldwell referred mainly to the Ural-Altaic languages, though occasionally using the word in a rather wider sense than that. Within the “Scythian” family he held that it was possible to define the position of Dravidian even more closely, by attaching it to the Finno-ugrian group in particular. The evidence which Caldwell offered in support of this theory consisted partly of grammatical features which he held to be common to the languages concerned, and partly of comparisons of vocabulary. The former are to be found scattered through the body of his work, and the latter are collected together in an appendix entitled “Glossarial Affinities”. In presenting this theory Caldwell was quite modest in his claims; he admitted the possibility of being misled by accidental assonances, and claimed rather to have pointed the way to the possibilities of future research than to have demonstrated the relationship with any finality.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EARLY AND LATE SASSANIAN COINAGE

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-198
Author(s):  
Stephanus Vollgraaff
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Stylistic Analysis ◽  
Late Period ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

Sassanian coinage is one the best sources for information on the individual kings from this Persian dynasty. This is because the coins are primary sources that are unaltered. The way in which the Sassanian coins changed is not a topic that has been dealt with extensively.1 A stylistic analysis and comparison of the coins from the different Sassanian ages will be done. In this study the coins from the Sassanian rulers of the early period (224–302 C.E.) and the late period (628–652 C.E.) will be analysed for stylistic characteristics that differentiated them from other Sassanian coins. Trends that were common to coins from each period will be identified as well so that the continuity and breaks in coin design from each period can be illustrated and compared. The factors behind some rulers following the standards set by predecessors and others reinventing it will be exposed by the study.

Subject versus addressee in Dogon imperatives and hortatives

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Heath ◽  
Vadim Dyachkov
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Action Verb ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
Plural Subjects ◽  
The Way

Indicative sentences in Dogon have a subject of S/A type identifiable by convergent criteria. However, Dogon imperatives diverge from English in lacking full-fledged referential subjects. Specifically, covert imperative actors (“subjects”) cannot bind transpersonal reflexive pronominals the way indicative subjects do. Instead, Dogon imperative verbs morphologically index addressee number. Dogon hortatives have both overt first-person plural subjects and imperative-like second-person addressees. We must therefore tease apart (referential) subjecthood and addresseehood. Crosslinguistic comparisons (Basque allocutives, Russian transpersonal reflexives) bring out similarities and differences. A cultural focus on immediate observation as opposed to projected result, also observed in action verb semantics, may be behind the Dogon difference.

scholarly journals THE WAY TO TIBET: RELIGIOUS SONGS OF THE KALMYKS AND THE REALITIES OF TRAVEL

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Эльза Петровна Бакаева
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Folk Songs ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Literary Materials ◽  
The Way

В статье анализируются калмыцкие народные песни о паломничестве в Тибет на примере текстов «Зу гидг һазр» ‘Страна, называемая Тибет’, «Алта гидг һазрас» ‘Из местности, называемой Алтай’. На основе сравнительного исследования разновременных записей песни «Зу гидг һазр» (1897 г., 1903 г., а также записи конца XX в.) и сопоставления с историческими данными о посольствах и паломничествах в Тибет и вариантами преданий о Джиджетен-ламе сделан вывод о том, что религиозная песня посвящена паломническому посольству хана Дондук-Даши (1755‒1757 гг.) и в ней отражены сведения о пути в Тибет через Монголию и Кукунор. Анализ песни «Алта гидг һазрас» и данных наиболее полного текста песни «Зу гидг һазр» в записи Г. Й. Рамстедта позволил сделать вывод о том, что в них отражены сведения о двух основных путях в Тибет. Архивные и литературные материалы о паломничествах в Тибет свидетельствуют, что в XVII в., когда территория формирующегося Калмыцкого ханства была подвижной, к святыням Лхасы, называвшейся калмыками «Зу», отправлялись по традиционному пути через территории расселения ойратов — «из местности, называемой Алтай». С начала XVIII в. по ряду причин путь в Тибет пролегал через Монголию и Кукунор. И лишь в начале XX в. вновь был освоен путь в Тибет, бывший традиционным для их предков, который теперь назывался «новым». The article analyzes the Kalmyk folk songs about the pilgrimage to Tibet through the example of the texts titled “Zu gidg gazr” (“The Country Called Tibet”), “Alta gidg gazras” (“From the Land Called Altai”). The comparative study of records of the song “Zu gidg gazr” of different times (1897, 1903, late 20th century) and insights into historical data and versions of legends about Jijeten Lama conclude that the religious song is dedicated to the pilgrimage embassy of Khan Donduk-Dashi (1755‒1757) and contains information about the way to Tibet through Mongolia and Kokonor. The analysis of the song “Alta gidg gazras” and the data of the most complete text of the song “Zu gidg gazr” recorded by G. J. Ramstedt makes it possible to conclude that those reflect information about two main routes to Tibet. Archival and literary materials about pilgrimages to Tibet indicate that in the 17th century when boundaries of the emerging Kalmyk Khanate were still mobile, routes to the shrines of Lhasa (Zu) went through the traditional territories of Oirat settlement ― “from the area called Altai”. From the beginning of the 18th century, for a number of reasons, the way to Tibet lay through Mongolia and Kokonor. Only at the beginning of the 20th century the path to Tibet which had been traditional for ancestors (now called the “new one”) was mastered again.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of the Rhetorical Functions and Features of Personal Pronouns in English and Chinese Legal News

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Uneven Distribution ◽  
First Person ◽  
Legal Rhetoric ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Third Person

Abstract This paper mainly discusses the distribution and rhetorical functions of personal pronouns in English and Chinese legal news reports which is divided into two narrative types, the objective and the semi-dialogic. Through the comparative analysis of some English and Chinese legal news texts in the two types, it finds that the differences in narrative type directly affect the distribution of personal pronouns. In objective narrative, the use of third person pronouns accounts for an absolute proportion, and the frequency of using first person and second person pronouns is close to zero. In semi-dialogic narrative, the use of third person pronouns is still the highest, but only slightly higher than the use of first person and second person pronouns, accounting for only a small number. After analysis, this paper holds that there are three reasons for the uneven distribution: first, the differences between the dialogic style and the narrative style; second, the legal narrative being a story narrative; third, the specific restrictions on the use of legal rhetoric.

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