H

Habits
Hallucination
Happiness
Hesychastic centers of prayer
Hierarchy
Humour

Habits

Word definition: An acquired behaviour pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary,

Etymology: Word Origin & History: early 13c., “characteristic attire of a religious or clerical order,” from Old French habit, abit (12c.) “clothing, (ecclesiastical) habit; conduct,” from Latin habitus “condition, demeanor, appearance, dress,” originally past participle of habere “to have, to hold, possess,” from PIE root *ghabh- “to seize, take, hold, have, give, receive” (cf. Sanskrit gabhasti- “hand, forearm;” Old Irish gaibim “I take, hold, I have,” gabal “act of taking;” Lithuanian gabana “armful,” gabenti “to remove;” Gothic gabei “riches;” Old English giefan, Old Norse gefa “to give”).
Base sense probably “to hold,” which can be either in offering or in taking. Applied in Latin to both inner and outer states of being, and taken over in both sense by English, though meaning of “dress” is now restricted to monks and nuns. Meaning “customary practice” is early 14c.

Technical description: A habit (or wont) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

The American Journal of Psychology (1903) defines a “habit, from the standpoint of psychology, [as] a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience.” Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks. Habits are sometimes compulsory. New behaviours can become automatic through the process of habit formation. Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavioural patterns which humans repeat become imprinted in neural pathways, but it is possible to form new habits through repetition.

When behaviors are repeated in a consistent context, there is an incremental increase in the link between the context and the action. This increases the automaticity of the behavior in that context. Features of an automatic behavior are all or some of:

• efficiency
• lack of awareness
• unintentionality
• uncontrollability            (Wikipedia)

Phenomenological description: Stored patterns which are below the threshold of consciousness. If all these patterns were conscious, than they would it make it impossible for humans to develop higher mental functions, because all of the mental space that is necessary for higher mental function would be occupied.
( M.J.M.)

Synonyms: tendency, practice, pattern.

Supporting evidence:  Psychological research.

Hallucination

Word definition: a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind, caused by various physical and mental disorders, or by reaction to certain toxic substances, and usually manifested as visual or auditory images.

Etymology: Word Origin & History; in the pathological/psychological sense of “seeing or hearing something which is not there,” 1640s, from Latin hallucinationem (nominative hallucinatio), from past participle stem of hallucinari (see hallucinate). Hallucination is distinct from illusion in not necessarily involving a false belief.

Technical description: A hallucination is a perception in the absence of external stimulus that has qualities of real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming, which does not involve wakefulness; pseudohallucination, which does not mimic real perception, and is accurately perceived as unreal; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; and imagery, which does not mimic real perception and is under voluntary control. Hallucinations also differ from “delusional perceptions”, in which a correctly sensed and interpreted stimulus (i.e., a real perception) is given some additional (and typically absurd) significance.

Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptive and chronoceptive.

A mild form of hallucination is known as a disturbance, and can occur in most of the senses above. These may be things like seeing movement in peripheral vision, or hearing faint noises and/or voices. Auditory hallucinations are very common in schizophrenia. They may be benevolent (telling the subject good things about themselves) or malicious, cursing the subject, etc. Auditory hallucinations of the malicious type are frequently heard, for example people talking about the subject behind their back. Like auditory hallucinations, the source of the visual counterpart can also be behind the subject’s back. Their visual counterpart is the feeling of being looked or stared at, usually with malicious intent. Frequently, auditory hallucinations and their visual counterpart are experienced by the subject together.

Hypnagogic hallucinations and hypnopompic hallucinations are considered normal phenomena. Hypnagogic hallucinations can occur as one is falling asleep and hypnopompic hallucinations occur when one is waking up. Hallucinations can be associated with drug use (particularly deliriants), sleep deprivation, psychosis, neurological disorders, and delirium tremens.  

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Synonyms: illusion, phantasm.

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The concept in mythology: Mirage

Citations:
“A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.”
Bertrand Russell

Happiness

Word definition: the quality or state of being happy.

Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1520s, “good fortune,” from happy + -ness. Meaning “pleasant and contented mental state” is from 1590s. Phrase greatest happiness for the greatest number was in Hutcheson (1725).

Technical description: Happiness is a fuzzy concept. Some related concepts include well-being, quality of life, flourishing, and contentment.

In philosophy and (western) religion, happiness may be defined in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.

In psychology, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined by, among others, positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Since the turn of the millennium, psychologists have increasingly become interested in developing an approach to human flourishing. This is seen prominently in the work of Martin Seligman, Ed Diener and Ruut Veenhoven, and in the international developmental and medical research of Paul Anand.

In fact, happiness may be said to be a relative concept; the source of happiness for one person might not be the source of happiness for another. (Wikipedia)
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/lists/list-of-different-levels-of-happiness/ 

Phenomenological description: There are different sources of happiness on different levels

The happiest life is one in which human beings make use of their highest capacities. ( M.J.M.)

Synonyms: Contentment, elation, joy.

Hesychastic centers of prayer

Etymology: (Greek hesychos, quiet).

Technical description: A completely separate contemplative movement within the Eastern Orthodox Church is Hesychasm, a form of Christian meditation. Comparisons have been made between the Hesychastic centres of prayer and the position of the chakras.

Synonyms: Chakras

Cross-cultural comparisons: Mircea Eliade, a historian of religion wrote in his book “Yoga, Immortality and Freedom” about monks who lived at Mount Athos (a peninsula in Macedonia, northern Greece). “…according to some authors the Hesychastic tradition distinguishes four “centers” of concentration and prayer:
(1) the cerebrofrontal cranial center (located in the space between the eyebrows);

(2) the buccolaryngeal center (corresponding to “the commonest thought; that of intelligence, expressed in conversation, correspondence, and in the first stages of prayer”

– A. Bloom. “L’Hésychasme, Yoga chrétien?” pp.185ff.);

(3) The pectoral center (“situated in the upper and median region of the chest.”

“Stability of thought, already manifestly colored by a thymic element, is much greater than in the preceding cases, but it is still thought that defines the emotional coloring and that is modified by it”– ibid.);

(4) the cardiac center (situated “near the upper part of the heart, a little below the left breast,” according to the Greek Fathers; “a little above,” according to Theophanes the recluse and others. “It is the physical site of perfect attention”– ibid.).

However next to these Eliade’s “Yoga, Immortality and Freedom” mentioned another center:”…fixing the eyes on the centre of the abdomen (in other words, the navel)”[1], and “…direct in the eye of the body and with it all your mind upon the center of your belly – that is upon your navel”.

 These Hesychastic centers of prayer correspond with the chakras:
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/subtle-energies/chakras/

• the cerebrofrontal cranial center corresponds with the Ajna chakra (eyebrows),
• the buccolaryngeal center corresponds with the Visuddha chakra (throat),
• the cardiac center corresponds with the Anahata chakra (heart),
• the last mentioned corresponds with the Manipura chakra (navel)
  ( M.J.M.)

Relevance of the concept: These independent descriptions of the chakras, coming from different areas of the world, separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years, is supporting evidence for the existence of chakras. ( M.J.M.)

The concept in mythology: The seven seals of the apocalypse.

Supporting evidence: Similar independent descriptions from different cultures.

Literature: Books / Articles / Websites:
Mircea Eliade; “Yoga, Immortality and Freedom”, Routledge & Kegan Paul London. 1958.

Hierarchy

Word definition: any system of persons or things ranked one above another.

Etymology: Word Origin & History: mid-14c., from Old French ierarchie, from Medieval Latin hierarchia “ranked division of angels” (in the system of Dionysius the Areopagite), from Greek hierarkhia “rule of a high priest,” from hierarkhes “high priest, leader of sacred rites,” from ta hiera “the sacred rites” (neuter plural of hieros “sacred;” see ire) + arkhein “to lead, rule” (see archon). Sense of “ranked organization of persons or things” first recorded 1610s, initially of clergy, sense probably influenced by higher. Related: Hierarchal; hierarchical.

Technical description: The term hierarchy, apparently coined (c. 500 ce) by Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita, initially had the metaphysical meaning (etymologically from the Greek ἱερά/ hierá and ἀρχή/ archḗ, “sacred origin, sacred order, sacred dominion”) of a layered reality and perception

Synonyms: ranking.

Relevance of the concept: Hierarchies should be differentiated in Dominator  hierarchies and Functional hierarchies:
Dominator  hierarchies are generally: destructive, imbalanced, unreasonable, discriminatory and corrupt.
Functional hierarchies are necessary otherwise striving to higher values on a personal and social level would be impossible. ( M.J.M.)
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/collective-transformations/organisational-structures-systems/

The concept in mythology: Pyramids, staircase.

Citations:

Bertalanffy: “Reality, in the modern conception, appears as a tremendous hierarchical order of organized entities, leading, in a superposition of many levels, from physical and chemical to biological and sociological systems. Such hierarchical structure and combination into systems of ever higher order, is characteristic of reality as a whole and is of fundamental importance especially in biology, psychology and sociology.” (Ludwig Bertalanffy, General Systems Theory, pp. 74, 87.)

Humour

Word definition: a comic, absurd, or incongruous quality causing amusement.

Etymology: Word Origin & History: mid-14c., “fluid or juice of an animal or plant,” from Old North French humour (Old French humor; Modern French humeur), from Latin umor “body fluid” (also humor, by false association with humus “earth”); related to umere “be wet, moist,” and to uvescere “become wet,” from PIE *wegw- “wet.”
In ancient and medieval physiology, “any of the four body fluids” (blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy or black bile) whose relative proportions were thought to determine state of mind. This led to a sense of “mood, temporary state of mind” (first recorded 1520s); the sense of “amusing quality, funniness” is first recorded 1680s, probably via sense of “whim, caprice” (1560s), which also produced the verb sense of “indulge,” first attested 1580s. “The pronunciation of the initial h is only of recent date, and is sometimes omitted ….” [OED] For types of humour, see the useful table below, from H.W. Fowler [“Modern English Usage,” 1926].

Technical description: People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour—be amused, smile or laugh at something funny—and thus are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour inducing it to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy puppet shows or the Tom and Jerry cartoons, whose physical nature makes it accessible to them. By contrast, more sophisticated forms of humour such as satire require an understanding of its social meaning and context, and thus tend to appeal to a more mature audience.  (Wikipedia)

Phenomenological description: Generally it involves non-sequitur modes of thinking.
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/Lists/Types%20and%20forms%20of%20humour/

Synonyms: Comedy, funniness.

Relevance of the concept: The philosophical study of humor has been focused on the development of a satisfactory definition of humor,

According to the standard analysis, humor theories can be classified into three neatly identifiable groups:incongruity, superiority, and relief theories. Incongruity theory is the leading approach and includes historical figures such as Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, and perhaps has its origins in comments made by Aristotle in the Rhetoric. Primarily focusing on the object of humor, this school sees humor as a response to an incongruity, a term broadly used to include ambiguity, logical impossibility, irrelevance, and inappropriateness. The paradigmatic Superiority theorist is Thomas Hobbes, who said that humor arises from a “sudden glory” felt when we recognize our supremacy over others. Plato and Aristotle are generally considered superiority theorists, who emphasize the aggressive feelings that fuel humor. The third group, Relief theory, is typically associated with Sigmund Freud and Herbert Spencer, who saw humor as fundamentally a way to release or save energy generated by repression.

The concept in mythology: The trickster.

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