Re: BHA: The "Eastern" philosophy aspect

[Mervyn Hartwig <mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tobin,

I'm sure there is a good bit of (intentionally) eclectic borrowing, but
those who know their Bhuddism etc seem to think it's pretty authentic,
and I think it adds up to a coherent metaphysical position which a
Bhuddist or Vedic Hindu would recognise.

I think Roy's position is both monotheist and polytheist, or better,
reconciles monotheism with polytheism in the one conception - stratified
or differentiated monism. Viewing his position as straightforwardly
monotheist perhaps results from thinking of God as a person. Roy speaks
also of 'spirit' and 'God-stuff', which could roughly be equated with
'energy' or 'causal power'  or 'possibility' in some ultimate sense. Roy
sees it as ingredient in the cosmos in pretty much the way you probably
think energy is, except that spirit has a moral and ordering
(categorialising) aspect too and is among other things conscious (or
both conscious and beyond being conscious!).

But then, in addition to spirit or God as the ultimate transcendent
reality in this sense, you have (p.50) *deities* and avatars -
manifestations and embodiments of God eg personal lords such as Krishna
or Jesus. No monotheism here! Rather absolute spirit underlies and
informs all monotheisms and polytheisms - religious pluralism - (forming
a basis for possible religious unity, consistent I think with much
modern theological thinking). And then you have many other levels of
transcendent being - angels, human souls, etc etc. All in a stratified
differentiated open expanding totality (stratified monism), informed and
sustained by spirit, which is the cosmos...

Mervyn

Tobin Nellhaus <nellhaus@xxxxxxx> writes
>Gary and now Mervyn say that there's a hefty amount of Eastern thought in
>FEW.  I certainly am not especially knowledgeable about Eastern ideas, but I
>came away from FEW far from convinced that Bhaskar's encounter with Eastern
>thought was at all thoroughgoing.  I felt that FEW's depiction of Eastern
>thought was more informed by New Age eclectic spiritualism than by genuinely
>Eastern ideas (which are not all of a piece anyway).  In particular, I was
>surprised by FEW's clear but un-argued monotheism -- a pantheistic
>monotheism, but monotheism nonetheless, in ways that I felt were deeply
>Western.  I have doubts that there's anything in CR that inherently points
>toward monotheism (if we're willing to entertain the notion of a CR
>theology).  In fact I think CR's commitment to multiple levels and the
>interaction of numerous entities possessing various powers and
>susceptibilities points toward a theological translation (if there is to be
>one) into some form of polytheism or animism.  In short, I'm not seeing a
>lot of coherence there.
>
>---
>Tobin Nellhaus
>nellhaus@xxxxxxxx
>"Faith requires us to be materialists without flinching": C.S. Peirce
>
>
>
>
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--
Mervyn Hartwig
13 Spenser Road
Herne Hill
London SE24 ONS
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7 737 2892
Email: mh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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