Fruit of the Contemplative Life
Fruit of the contemplative life: => Insight => : Alexander March 03, 2014, 04:58:27 PM
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Here is a list of three modern people who may be worth investigating. I strongly believe that all three of them are nonreturners (anagamis). Keep in mind my judgment is based upon insight, and a large amount of time spent with their writings.
Baron von Hügel
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Friedrich_von_H%C3%BCgel.jpg/220px-Friedrich_von_H%C3%BCgel.jpg)
Friedrich von Hügel was born in Florence, Italy, in 1852, to Charles von Hügel, who was serving as Austrian ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and a Scottish mother, Elizabeth Farquharson, who was a convert to Roman Catholicism. Friedrich was educated privately, and moved with his family to England in 1867 when he was fifteen, where he remained for the rest of his life.
A self-taught biblical scholar, a linguist with a fluency in French, German and Italian as well as his adopted English, and a master of many subjects, he never held office in the Catholic Church, or an academic post, nor did he ever earn a university degree. However, he is often mentioned [...] as one of the most influential Catholic thinkers of his day.
Von Hügel remained an Austrian citizen until he found himself to be a "hostile alien" after England declared war with Austria in August 1914. He applied for naturalization and received it in December of the same year.
His scholarly concerns included the relationship of Christianity to history, ecumenism, mysticism, [and] the philosophy of religion. He was described as "the most wonderful personality... so saintly, truthful, sane and tolerant." In 1920, von Hügel received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford.
His tombstone in an English country churchyard bears the simple inscription: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?"
One of von Hügel's books, Eternal Life, (https://archive.org/details/eternallifeastud028124mbp) is available in full online
N. T. Wright
(http://i.imgur.com/nZAaBEI.jpg)
Tom Wright is a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a popular author on Christianity. He has written several things in the dialogue about the "historical Jesus," and he is known for defending the "conservative" interpretation of Jesus and Christianity against "liberal" theologians, who are often his friends and colleagues.
Tom Wright has some somewhat strange beliefs, in that he believes in the literal bodily resurrection of Christ, and in the eventual union of heaven and earth ("life after" life after death, he says). The reason why he resonates with me is that he has truly come to integrate the Church's dogmas, no matter how goofy they are, with his lifestyle and the way his whole self thinks and functions. He is truly an example of someone who has had his religion permeate every cell of himself, and who has been transformed by it.
Chris Hedges
(http://i.imgur.com/4a25hIz.jpg)
Chris Hedges is an American journalist, author, and self-identified socialist. He has written several -excellent- books on the United States, on the nation's problems, and on the actions needed to remedy these problems.
Hedges was born into privilege, and originally followed his father by attending Harvard Divinity School, a home, he said, of "liberal Christianity." While there, Hedges worked for a time with inner city youth, and in one resonating incident, helped to -prosecute- several of the youth he was supposed to be helping.
This experience was important for Hedges because it clued him in on the hypocrisy of the "liberal Church," which supposedly cares for the poor and colored, but, which, in all honesty, is entirely alien to it.
Hedges later became a journalist, and after publishing a well-received book on war, went on to write what in my opinion are his more excellent books.
A theist, "but not according to fundamentalists," Hedges also finds an issue with atheist intellectuals like Richard Dawkins, who he claims can only ever engage with a "caricature" of Christianity, with people who literally believe in ridiculous things like the world being made in seven days.
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I very much respect Chris Hedges. I'll listen to what he has to say anytime. I've never heard of the other two.
How can you tell if any of these people are free of the first five fetters? Correct me if I am wrong, but it it is my understanding that attainment of the 3rd Jhana is a must for non-returners. Do they all practice the jhanas?
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How can you tell if any of these people are free of the first five fetters?
I'm trying to come up with a much better answer for you Michel, other than me just saying "because I know they are." Unfortunately, that is a very important aspect of it. It is an intuition that they are anagamis.
But, there is much more to it than I am letting on. In their writings, for example, it would be discernible what fetters they have or do not have; how their religiosity has transformed them; and whether they experience the first samadhi's joy, etc.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it it is my understanding that attainment of the 3rd Jhana is a must for non-returners. Do they all practice the jhanas?
Well, I do not think any of these three has achieved the silent mind (the third samadhi). But, I am not sure if that is a necessity for nonreturndom.
What about the other samadhis?
- I think it is definite that all three have achieved the first samadhi (joy).
- How about the second samadhi (the still mind)? I think that since these are all Christians, it is unlikely that any one of them has attempted to still his mind. However, I would argue that if any one of them made the effort to do so, he likely could.
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Interesting list of people, but I would want a more convincing argument than your intuition, aglorincz, to go on. However, your list reminds me of a westerner, Franklin Merrell-Wolff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Merrell-Wolff), who was a professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley.
Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887–1985) was an American philosopher. After formal education in philosophy and mathematics at Stanford and Harvard, Wolff devoted himself to the goal of transcending the normal limits of human consciousness. After exploring various mystical teachings and paths, he dedicated himself to the path of jnana yoga and the writings of Shankara, founder of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.
Philosophy
In 1936, Wolff experienced a profound spiritual liberation and awakening which provided the basis for his transcendental philosophy. Wolff's published books detailing his experience and philosophy include Pathways Through to Space, The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object (both of which were re-published in a single volume entitled Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Experience and Philosophy), and Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology (originally published under the title Introceptualism).
Selected works
Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1973). Pathways Through To Space (New York : Julian Press). ISBN 0-517-54961-1.
Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1973). The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object (New York : Julian Press). ISBN 0-517-54949-2.
Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1994). Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Experience and Philosophy: a personal record of transformation and a discussion of transcendental consciousness: containing his Philosophy of Consciousness Without An Object and his Pathways Through To Space (Albany : SUNY Press). ISBN 0-7914-1964-9
Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1995). Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology, edited by Ron Leonard (Albany : SUNY Press). ISBN 0-7914-2676-9.
There is better evidence in support of Franklin Merrell-Wolff than you offer for your list, but I did not find sufficient compelling evidence to look his daughter up, who happened to live near where I was camped in the Inyo at the time I was there. I suppose I should have done so, but by the time I found myself in the Inyo I had given up on finding anyone with any attainment at all.
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I think a good example would be Michel's streamwinnerdom. How do I know that Michel is a streamwinner? I have never even met him in person. But I feel that I know he is a streamwinner like it was a fact. It is something very similar with these three.
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I'm almost there, aglorincz. But my meditations are producing inconsistent results. So I feel that I haven't yet mastered the 1st jhana.
I also feel that I'm not completely free of the first three fetters. I have a problem with doubt. So I'm just a common, garden variety human being, aspiring to become a noble one.
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I'm almost there, aglorincz. But my meditations are producing inconsistent results. So I feel that I haven't yet mastered the 1st jhana.
I also feel that I'm not completely free of the first three fetters. I have a problem with doubt. So I'm just a common, garden variety human being, aspiring to become a noble one.
You are a noble one as it is, Michel. Unfortunately, between you and the first jhana lies - as the spiritual alchemists call it - the process of "putrefaction." In this process, you will have to come to know yourself in all your ugliness. You will have to die a hundred times to a hundred parts of yourself that must go. But, by this process, you will transform truly, and become a new you. Then, you will no longer be a streamwinner, but a once-returner.
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I'm almost there, aglorincz. But my meditations are producing inconsistent results. So I feel that I haven't yet mastered the 1st jhana.
I also feel that I'm not completely free of the first three fetters. I have a problem with doubt. So I'm just a common, garden variety human being, aspiring to become a noble one.
You are a noble one as it is, Michel. Unfortunately, between you and the first jhana lies - as the spiritual alchemists call it - the process of "putrefaction." In this process, you will have to come to know yourself in all your ugliness. You will have to die a hundred times to a hundred parts of yourself that must go. But, by this process, you will transform truly, and become a new you. Then, you will no longer be a streamwinner, but a once-returner.
Despite all the horror stories I've read on the dark night of the soul, I want to under go the process. I have been through and weathered deep pain in my life from my bipolar depressions that went on for many months, and in some cases years. I was forced to take a close look at myself. I've seen some of the ugliness. I attempted suicide three time. I think I can endure great pain. The dark night pain has a purpose. So it may be easier to bear in that sense. What I'm most concerned about is if the people surrounding me will have me confined in a mental hospital. I'll need a sanctuary to undergo this process. You may be shaking your head as you read this. Perhaps I don't really know what I'll be up against.
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I think a good example would be Michel's streamwinnerdom. How do I know that Michel is a streamwinner? I have never even met him in person. But I feel that I know he is a streamwinner like it was a fact. It is something very similar with these three.
aglorincz, I repeat this here under this thread as well. Just because one has what appears to be intuitive, revelatory insight into something is insufficient to argue in support of. One must balance critical thinking with intuitive, revelatory insight, or other wise, in my experience, one can all too easily be misled by what one believes to be intuitive, revelatory insight; but might just be the mind playing one of its many games. Just as intuitive, revelatory insight is needed to help the intellect through the mass of confusing arguments that abound in support of the deeply flawed belief systems of mainstream religion. Both intuitive, revelatory insight and critical thinking are needed in balance.