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KANTIAN CONSCIOUSNESS – SUMMARY OF MAIN THEMES
The Either/Or
Either: materialism and despair, Or: puritanical dualism and the shadow problem. Despair arising from the Roman ideology of Stoicism. Plotinus – Neo-Platonism and its intellectual difficulties. Emergence of medieval consciousness – the theology of Augustine – rise of the split-consciousness psyche, of the evolution of cruelty, and of the Christian shadow problem. Rise of the doctrine of salvation through faith alone – implicit rejection of the doctrine of freewill and the threat of Manichaeism.
History of Hebrew religion and the construction of the Old Testament
History of the Hebrew religion from the time of Solomon to the Christian epoch. Analysis of the Old Testament into its historical layers. The Wellhausen multiple source theory. Reform of Josiah. Mazdeism. Evolution of Judaism during the exilic and Hellenistic periods. Sadducees and Pharisees. Apocalyptic and other literature.
The history of Judaism and the emergance of Christianity
Syncretism of Hebrew religion with Plato. Work of Philo of Alexandria. Constellation within Judaism of the saviour archetype. Emergence of the doctrines of atonement, wisdom (Sophia) and Trinity. Emergence of the Word/Son/Logos archetype. Identification of all the Christ-archetypes within the theology of Paul and John. Impossibility in contemporary consciousness of maintaining the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Splitting of the Dionysus archetype into Christ/Word and Satan/Devil.
The Rise of Positivism
Positivism constellated in response to the shadow problem of Christianity. The wilful overthrow by Positivism of Kantian philosophy and regression to modern stoicism – contribution of G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The rise of modern despair in response to the conception of death as the utter annihilation of the person. The need to overcome this despair.
Refutation of the golem project to create artificial intelligence and thereby prove the validity of the reverse transcendental deduction. Modern functionalism. Materialism as (inauthentic) faith. Failure of positivism to resolve the “paradox of incarnate existence”.
Visionary experience and phenomenology
Visionary experience of pure light – the shekinah. Plotinus and Philo. The light and the Self. Human identity analysed in relation to the visionary experience of pure light. Centres of consciousness. Phenomenology of desire as a refutation of the doctrine of the fall and the Reason/Flesh dichotomy.
Kantian consciousness and Immortality
Moral argument for the existence of God. Kantian argument for immortality as the postulate of pure practical wisdom. Incarnate life as the moving image of eternity. Kantian, subjective consciousness. The distinction between the transcendental (noumena) and the empirical (phenomena). The phenomenology of experience. The need for acausal explanation. The transcendental synthesis of subjective time. Kantian consciousness and the spirit world. The Euripidean interpretation of the gods as archetypes of human nature. Concluding remarks on immortality.
Socratic wisdom
The need to abide by the Socratic doctrine of our ignorance. Modesty and humility. The need to recognise faith and choice as the ground of authentic living.
Either: materialism and despair, Or: puritanical dualism and the shadow problem. Despair arising from the Roman ideology of Stoicism. Plotinus – Neo-Platonism and its intellectual difficulties. Emergence of medieval consciousness – the theology of Augustine – rise of the split-consciousness psyche, of the evolution of cruelty, and of the Christian shadow problem. Rise of the doctrine of salvation through faith alone – implicit rejection of the doctrine of freewill and the threat of Manichaeism.
History of Hebrew religion and the construction of the Old Testament
History of the Hebrew religion from the time of Solomon to the Christian epoch. Analysis of the Old Testament into its historical layers. The Wellhausen multiple source theory. Reform of Josiah. Mazdeism. Evolution of Judaism during the exilic and Hellenistic periods. Sadducees and Pharisees. Apocalyptic and other literature.
The history of Judaism and the emergance of Christianity
Syncretism of Hebrew religion with Plato. Work of Philo of Alexandria. Constellation within Judaism of the saviour archetype. Emergence of the doctrines of atonement, wisdom (Sophia) and Trinity. Emergence of the Word/Son/Logos archetype. Identification of all the Christ-archetypes within the theology of Paul and John. Impossibility in contemporary consciousness of maintaining the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Splitting of the Dionysus archetype into Christ/Word and Satan/Devil.
The Rise of Positivism
Positivism constellated in response to the shadow problem of Christianity. The wilful overthrow by Positivism of Kantian philosophy and regression to modern stoicism – contribution of G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The rise of modern despair in response to the conception of death as the utter annihilation of the person. The need to overcome this despair.
Refutation of the golem project to create artificial intelligence and thereby prove the validity of the reverse transcendental deduction. Modern functionalism. Materialism as (inauthentic) faith. Failure of positivism to resolve the “paradox of incarnate existence”.
Visionary experience and phenomenology
Visionary experience of pure light – the shekinah. Plotinus and Philo. The light and the Self. Human identity analysed in relation to the visionary experience of pure light. Centres of consciousness. Phenomenology of desire as a refutation of the doctrine of the fall and the Reason/Flesh dichotomy.
Kantian consciousness and Immortality
Moral argument for the existence of God. Kantian argument for immortality as the postulate of pure practical wisdom. Incarnate life as the moving image of eternity. Kantian, subjective consciousness. The distinction between the transcendental (noumena) and the empirical (phenomena). The phenomenology of experience. The need for acausal explanation. The transcendental synthesis of subjective time. Kantian consciousness and the spirit world. The Euripidean interpretation of the gods as archetypes of human nature. Concluding remarks on immortality.
Socratic wisdom
The need to abide by the Socratic doctrine of our ignorance. Modesty and humility. The need to recognise faith and choice as the ground of authentic living.