Enactivism, IT & 21st Century Spirituality
In this essay, I would like to look at some of the essential features of the enactive paradigm, including the Integral reformulation of enactive principles, and consider their implications for an embodied, transformative modern spirituality. Each of the topics in the title is rich and multi-faceted, as I mentioned above, so in these reflections, I will only be evoking a small portion of their potential for interaction and mutual enaction; I will rely on others to explore other potentials, with the aim not only to voice a plurality of perspectives, but to invite creative integration and embodiment of shared spiritual vision.
Read the whole article.
*Aug 15th: James Barrow continues the symposium by arguing also for the physicalist approach -
Extreme versions of the Myth of the Given say subject and object are totally separate and when human beings look at those object we see them for what they are. Myth of the Framework says subject and object are not separate, and in fact it’s all one big subjective indistinguishable mush.
Enactivism claims to be looking at “a middle way”. If so I think it needs to be clearer on what ways we are connected AND in what ways we are separate. I get the feeling that since things have moved on from the simplistic orange scientific world view somewhat harshly described by Cook-Greater earlier, that no one wants to go back and look particularly closely at questions regarding the ways in which we are separate, and to do so within the context of an awareness of how we are also all interconnected.
*Aug 16th: Matt (Buddhacious) delivers -
To even believe for a moment that our thoughts will bring us whatever we want, we have to already be completely encased and blinded by a lonely solipsistic shell, not recognizing that every other person around us is also hoping and wishing for their own fantasies to be fulfilled. Who is going to end up on top in this struggle for personal happiness? There can only be so many lottery winners… Again, maybe it is just my Buddhist bias, but who can deny that life is suffering? We are made through an act of carnal love in the pursuit of fleeting bliss, grown in the womb at the behest of the crystalline death records of untold generations prior, and born as naked, delicately woven bodies, our intricate dynamics hardly noticed until something goes wrong. And when it does, we’re faced with that ultimate uncertainty– with the completely unknowable, unfathomable reunion with that from which we came.
Further articles: Adam, Julian, Erin, Ben.
Labels: enactivism, integral, spirituality, wilber
