“Nietsche is dead” - God
There was this philosopher bruv Hegel who
painted a circular yet progressive picture of time. He reckoned that every kind of history
(including philosophical, religious and even the history of the psyche of your
eccentric neighbour Gerry) progresses through three phases (Postmodern Philosophy of Religion 38-42):
PART 1 (Second and third parts to come...)
The first is called Monism . It’s characterised by a primitive unity,
harmony. There is coherence between self
and other as they’re all part of an undivided whole.
-In religious terms this is exemplified by
the ancient Greek, Vedic and Roman religions.
In Biblical terms it’s the unspoiled world of Eden. Oral traditions emphasise this unity and its
holism still penetrates the African worldview.
There is theanthropocosmic union between humanity, God and nature.
The same concept occurs in biology and
psychodynamics. Babies don’t recognise the difference between
themselves and others until they’re 6 months old. Some cases of stroke victims as well as
autism are characterised by a sense of blurred lines between self and other,
with the boundaries bleeding into each other so to speak. Jill Bolte Taylor speaks about the blissful
realisations that came about as a result of a stroke in her left
hemisphere. Her right, holistic
hemisphere didn’t differentiate between herself and creation.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
