One
Reality:
the web-site of
Keith Beasley
Glossary
This list provides a brief summary of many of the terms used on this web-site. I do not claim them as ‘generally accepted’ but are at least, hopefully, self-consistent. Unless otherwise stated, quotes are from The Chambers English Dictionary (1990). Non-quoted definitions are my own wording.
For a more in-depth discussion on key topics, see also my FAQs
Acceptance:
bringing our inner and outer perceptions
of reality into alignment.
AHS:
Alister
Hardy Society
Being (with a capital
B):
Embracing the Heidegger, Buddhist and Taoist senses of the term. i.e. to be
living in a transcendent state, to be ‘in the flow’, immersed in the world but
not attached to it in any material or emotional way.
Consciousness:
“the waking state of the mind: the knowledge which the mind has of anything:
awareness: thought”; includes, but is not restricted to, rational
consciousness.
Conscious Evolution:
A commitment to work with the Evolutionary Consciousness; The process of personal growth in how we ‘think’ and behave; becoming more wise and aware through working on our personal blocks and issues.
Divine:
Of God. Imbued with a depth of beauty, love
and truth. Often used to distinguish something from being conventionally human.
Dualism:
where
everything has to be categorised as ‘either A or B’, black OR white with no shades or grey or colours.
Evolutionary
Consciousness:
A transcendent and evolving consciousness consistent with
the notion of an evolutionary imperative towards divine consciousness.
Faith:
“trust or
confidence” (in a general sense, not necessarily implying any particular
religious belief).
Feeling:
“resonance with being, the capacity by which
we participate in and are co-present with our world” (Heron 1992, p1).
God:
used in the
broadest, rather than specifically Christian, sense of the word, and thus
interchangeably with ‘the Divine’.
Holistic:
(Following from the
Holism:
“the
theory that a complex entity, system, etc., is more than merely the sum of its
parts.”
Holographic:
‘as
above, so below’; the macrocosm reflects the microcosm in all things. Also
embracing ‘body, mind and soul’ as interconnected aspects of our Being.
Inner (as opposed
to ‘outer’):
thoughts, feelings and
mental processes that are perceived as being within our minds rather than as
being external to us.
Integrate: (and
thus ‘integral’ and ‘integrated’):
“to make up as a whole: to make entire: to combine, amalgamate.”
Interfaith:
the
working together of different faith groups for a common cause.
Interspiritual
(or ‘global spirituality’):
“a consensus on the practical values, practices,
and insights found in all traditions of spirituality” (Teasdale 1999, p74).
Mental transcendence:
integrated rational thought.
Modern Age:
that
period of human history between the Enlightenment of the 18th century and
present day.
Modernism:
characteristics associated with the Modern Age, particularly rationalism and
dualism.
Mystic:
“one who
seeks or attains direct intercourse with God”.
Mystical:
that
which is mysterious, “sacredly obscure”, magical. Not necessarily inconsistent
with being ‘ordinary’ or ‘normal’.
Normal:
“ordinary”, the spectrum of things generally accepted across human societies
(as opposed to the “most frequent value”).
Non-local (and
whole-body) transcendence:
a mode or level of consciousness, different to
the normal, which transcends the separation between ‘self’ and ‘other’.
Oneness:
the
totality of all that is.
Ordinary:
that
which, in at least some human societies, happens on a day-to-day basis.
Outer (as opposed
to ‘inner’):
things we perceive with our bodily senses; things outside of
ourselves which are sensed as being external to us.
Post-dualism:
where contradictions, paradoxes and both/neither states are accepted as equally
valid to either/or possibilities.
Postmodern Age:
the period from the 1960s onwards during which the key tenants of the Modern
Age have been challenged.
Postmodernism:
characteristics associated with the postmodern Age, particularly extreme
materialism, individualism and deconstructionism.
Post-postmodern Age:
the period, beginning with the start of the Transcendence Movement, when
personal and collective commitments were being made to move on from both the
modern and postmodern epistemologies.
Post-postmodernism:
characterised by genuine compassion, cooperation and ability to transcend
divisions.
Post-rationalism:
an acceptance that rational consciousness is but one facet of human
consciousness.
Rationalism:
the
pre-eminence of logical, rational, thought (i.e. rational consciousness) with
an associated denial of any other forms of consciousness.
Religious Experience:
An experience within a religious context, e.g. in a formal place of worship.
May not be ‘transcendent’ in the terms of this thesis.
SDI:
Spiritual
Directors International
SMN:
Scientific
and Medical Network
Soft-skills:
If hard skills related to practical skills or facts and theories that can be deality defined, soft-skills relate to the touch-feely aspect of being human. It recognises that humans are thinking, feeling, beings and that denying our emotional natures and inner ways of knowing is to deny what makes us tick.
Soul:
Our higher self; our divine spark; the divine
aspect of a human; the bit of humans that lives on other death (in whatever
form); our true, inner, non-local, self which is also an integral part of the
oneness of life.
Spirit:
An energetic as opposed to a material
presence, which could be one of many forms. Spirits may be: divine or not;
related to a human who has died, or not; malevolent or benign. i.e. a much
broader term than ‘soul’.
Spiritual:
Having
soul. Equivalent to ‘divine’. Not necessarily religious.
Spiritual Experience:
An experience within a spiritual context, e.g. whilst undertaking a spiritual
activity such as meditation. May not be ‘transcendent’ in the terms of this
thesis.
Suffer:
“v.t. to undergo: to endure: to be
affected by. v.i. to feel pain or
punishment: to sustain loss: to be injured: to die: to be executed or martyred:
to be the object of an action.”
Transcendent:
surpassing usual limits; and more specifically, ‘transcendent states of
consciousness’ which means ‘beyond the range of normal perception’.
Transcendence
movement:
those individuals and groups actively seeking the transcendent or
mystical in their lives and activities.
Whole-body (and
non-local) transcendence:
a mode or level of consciousness, different to
the normal, which is felt rather than thought.
Copyright 2012 by Keith Beasley