Post integral philosophy Marinus Jan Marijs
Philosophy can be described as the study of knowledge, truth, the nature of reality, and the meaning of life.
The development of philosophy followed a number of distinct stages:
Philosophy started around the axial period in the 6th century BC, which followed the mythical period and was concerned with a search into the basic assumptions, concepts, and procedures of specific fields of inquiry.
The next stage was Modern philosophy, a branch of philosophy that originated in Western Europe in the 17th century, and is now common worldwide. It tried to bring a unity of rationalism and empiricism.
Constituting a subsequent stage was a philosophy which was including: pluralism, multiculturalism, and egalitarianism. This started in the second halve of the 19th century and in the 1960’s →. It did not only embrace rationalism, cognitive intellectualism, but multiple forms of intelligences: social, moral, aesthetic and spiritual intelligence and so on….
This was followed by integral philosophy that started in the late 1980’s, which not only acknowledges the existence of multiple forms of intelligences, but also the different developmental stages these developmental lines follow. It included a synthesis of data drawn from a vast variety of areas and disciplines, ranging from psychology, to anthropology, sociology, mythology, comparative religion, linguistics, philosophy, history, cosmology, quantum-relativistic physics, biology, evolutionary theory, and systems theory.
Post-integral philosophy which is the subject of this website, differentiates further between lateral and vertical development; complexity and ontological development and greatly expands the number of developmental lines that are acknowledged. It is a metanarrative of universal theories trying to map all aspects of humanity. It includes research into the higher trans-rational developmental levels, which are related to intuition, inspiration and mystical experiences. While theological and metaphysical explanations use logical methods they generally don’t meet the same criteria of explanatory adequacy that will be applied to the scientific hypothesis.
A scientific explanation doesn’t just tell that something has happened, it tells how it happened, it identifies a sequence of events and a causal mechanism. It not only tells how certain processes started, but also gives a timeline how these processes develop. It offers detailed measurements of the factors involved in the process, and it explains how these factors are interrelated. And it further offers a comprehensive explanation of an abundance of observed phenomena such as the factors involved, the mechanisms, the sequence of events and so on.
An account is given by the means of how the processes did happen, specifications of laws, rules, and regularities in accordance by which this all takes place. Another thing one looks for is the predictive power of a hypothesis and asks what we would expect to see, what observations we’d expect to make if the hypothesis were true, are there any specific predictions that come out of the proposed hypothesis.
A post-integral philosophy takes this all into account and tries to meet all these criteria and it goes beyond traditional theological and speculative metaphysics. It gives an explanation of a whole range of phenomena that cannot be explained in naturalistic terms.
Such as:
– psychological growth,
– cultural transformations,
– collective levels of worldviews,
– qualia, (individual instances of subjective, conscious experience).
– consciousness (pure awareness),
– levels of consciousness,
– how transformations of consciousness do occur,
– free will (conscious choices),
– esthetic appreciation,
– high level mental functioning,
– individual developmental levels,
– collective developmental levels,
– the capacity for understanding,
– creativity,
– intuition, trans logical insight,
– inspiration,
– genius,
– superb craftsmanship,
– nirvana,
– what is spiritual enlightenment?
– siddhis (spiritual powers),
– samadhi,
– the ability to generate flow,
– paranormal perception (nonlocal perception),
– out of the body experiences / near death experiences,
– life after death,
– the nature of mind,
– the concept of a soul,
– the structure of the unconscious,
– reincarnation and a non-physical memory,
– karma,
– the moral problem of violence, pacifism,
– higher ontological worlds,
– platonic theory of forms,
– the mind-body problem,
– hylic pluralism (multiple materiality),
– subtle energy systems,
– primary and secondary qualities distinction,
– philosophical dualism / pluralism,
– the applicability of mathematics to the physical world,
– a cyclical pattern in historical development that forms a time constant,
– a parallel pattern in historical development (the axial age),
– ¼ process, a fractal process in time,
– is mysticism pre or trans-logical,
– synchronicity, non-causal meaningful related events,
– multiples: simultaneous independent discoveries,
– mystical union,
– theodicy,
– what is the meaning of life?
– what are the major domains of reality?
– why is there something instead of nothing?
– what is the ultimate destiny of humanity and the kosmos?
– cosmological fine-tuning,
– teleology. the purpose of an immanent final cause,
– the ability to make paradigmatic shifts,
– kundalini activation,
– contact with transcendent dimensions,
– precognition (trans temporal perception),
– omega point (eschatology),
– intentionality- or directed attention, and so on.
An account is given to how forces on higher ontological levels interact with the physical world, how sequences of events are identified, timelines, lateral and vertical transformations, and multi-level interactions. Detailed systematic descriptions are given of processes, cross-cultural research and quantifiable measurements are undertaken.
Mysticism
On the road to eternity, no one traveled further than the mystics.
While their influence on society has been tremendous, what mysticism and spiritual transformation are, is veiled in obscurity.
Many descriptions of the mystical experience are cryptic, use parables, analogies and symbols, and have a metaphorical meaning.
The aim of this website is twofold: first of all to give detailed phenomenological descriptions of the different mystical experiences, the energies behind them, the different stages and the processes that are involved in it. Secondly to describe the interlocking of mystical and worldly stages and processes. This website therefore gives a conceptual framework that describes how individuals and society can transform.
Where possible it attempts to support the different theories by evidence.
To find supporting evidence, cross cultural data and quantifiable data have been collected.
Metaphorical, poetic or symbolic descriptions are replaced, if possible by clear technical language which can only be interpreted in one way.
Furthermore artistic or symbolical drawings of the subtle energy systems are replaced with technical drawings.
And it is an effort to find a way to describe the indescribable.
