The Absolute                                           by  Marinus Jan Marijs

Introduction
The concept of a transcendent kosmic force (usually identified as God and by philosophers as the Absolute) is to be found in many cultures. The term “God” is used with a wide variety of different meanings:

God is: the first cause, the prime mover, the ground of being, the Absolute, the one without a second, the Godhead, Brahman, the Dharmakaya, Jehovah, personifications of the forces of nature, an immanent god, a transcendent force, a pantheistic God, a panentheistic God.
There is polytheism such as the angels of Judeo Christian faith and there are devas within Hinduism and Buddhism. As well as a noninterfering Deistic God, an interfering Theistic God. A personal God or an impersonal Kosmic force. God as the creator of the universe, the incorporeal Divine an eternal Spirit an infinite Mind.
But even within the Bible the concept of God changed dramatically:
from a revengeful God to a God of justice, to a God of forgiveness.
So there are many different concepts some (but certainly not all) are mutually exclusive.  The use of the term “God” however can be tied-up with traditional meanings that are associated with that term.
In the theological meaning of the word, it refers to the following characteristics:
if it is a force that created the world, than it must be very powerful,
if it is a force that created the extraordinary  fine-tuning of the world, than it must be very intelligent,
if it is a force that created the order in the world, than it must be very good.

God-Godhead
Within some spiritual traditions a differentiation has been made between the Divine within time and space, and the Divine that transcends time and space:

                                                                     God – Godhead
       Within time and space, a state of becoming – Transcending time and space
Platonic:                                        The demiurge – The unmoved mover
Western philosophy:                                     God – The Absolute
Christian faith:      Divine force (The Holy Ghost) – God
Buddhism:                                       Dharmakaya – Svabhavakaya
Hinduism:                                                 Ishvara – Brahman
Plotinus:                                       The world soul – The One (without a second)
Leibniz:                               The created monads – The uncreated monad
Eckhart:                                                        God – Godhead
Judaism:                                                Jehovah – Elohim
                                    Infinite temporal duration – Timelessness
                                                           Sequential – Absolute simultaneity

Definition & “Properties” of the Absolute

Definition
Ground of being, the ultimate foundation of all metaphysical reality,
the unmoved mover, creative Kosmic intelligent force,
unrestricted, complete, perfect; not relative to something else.

Names for the Absolute in different cultures / Synonyms 
The Godhead (Christian)
Brahman (Hindu)
Svabhavakaya (Buddhism)
Ein Sof (A Jewish Kabbalistic concept of Divine unity)
Tawhid (the Islamic concept of Divine unity)
The Tao of which one cannot speak (Chinese Mysticism) 
Ground of Being (The Perennial Philosophy)
Ahura Mazda (Zoroastrianism)
Unmoved mover (Aristotle)
Summum bonum (Cicero)
Tian (Chinese)
Ultimate void.

Nature of the Absolute.
One without a second, Kosmic consciousness, pure awareness,
eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, and the spiritual core of the universe of finiteness and change.
The cause of all that exists.
Is A-temporal, in the Absolute there is no temporal becoming, no sequence of events.
Infinite: Not limited by anything outside itself.
The ultimate nature of reality.
The uncreated.
Oneness as such.

Transcendent to space and time
Not located in space and time.   
In religion, transcendence refers to the aspect of a god’s nature and power which is wholly independent of the material universe, beyond all physical laws. This is contrasted with immanence, where a god is said to be fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways.
In religious experience transcendence is a state of being that has overcome the limitations of physical existence and by some definitions has also become independent of it. This is typically manifested in meditation and paranormal “visions”. (Wikipedia)
Human perception, communication and being on higher ontological levels can transcend space and time.

Dimensionless point
If the Absolute is a dimensionless point it would seem to be extremely small.
If the Absolute is everywhere it would seem to be extremely large.
However, as the Absolute transcends space and time, spatial and temporal characteristics don’t apply to it. It is beyond spatial and temporal duality.

The Monad
Monad (from Greek monas, “singularity” in turn from  monos, “alone”) refers, in cosmogony, to the Supreme Being, divinity or the totality of all things. The concept was reportedly conceived by the Pythagoreans and may refer variously to a single source acting alone, or to an indivisible origin, or to both. (Wikipedia)
There is one uncreated monad, the Absolute which is outside space and time.
There are many created monads which are located in space and time.
Phenomenologically, the monad in a human is the focal point of consciousness.
Click here for more details

Divine simplicity
In theology, the doctrine of Divine simplicity says that the Absolute is without parts. The general idea can be stated in this way: the being of the Absolute is identical to the “attributes” of the Absolute. Characteristics such as omnipresence, goodness, truth, eternity, etc. are identical to the Absolute’s being, not qualities that make up that being, nor abstract entities inhering in the Absolute as in a substance; in other words we can say that in the Absolute both essence and existence are one and the same. (Wikipedia)
Not one among many. Absolutely simple, not composed of parts.

“Properties” of the Absolute
The Absolute is without attributes, it is pure being. All its “qualities” are one and the same, the same as each other. In the same way that consciousness is one, and that the different consciousness levels are there because of the different interactions of the Absolute / Consciousness with different ontological levels.
So it being all-powerful, all-knowing and all-goodness is in essence all one, but its external influence outside itself creates the differentiation.
So saying that the Absolute has all sorts of characteristics we would recognise in ideal persons, but magnified to its maximum, its fullness, just corresponds to an anthropomorphic idea.
According to Maimonides, then, there can be no plurality of faculties, moral dispositions, or essential attributes in the Absolute. Even to say that the Absolute is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good is to introduce plurality, if one means thereby that these qualities are separate attributes.

Divine goodness
Divine goodness is generally seen as analog to human morality.
From a philosophical point of view Divine goodness is more appropriate seen as a very high level of Order, not to take it as a some human quality, not to see this in anthropomorphic terms.

The intelligence of the Absolute outside space and time
The intelligence of the Absolute (which is outside space and time) could be postulated as self-revelatory.
A kind of trans-spatial-temporal interacting totality.(compare this to the block universe)
A processless non-local intuition-like all comprising comprehension.

Is the Absolute omnipotent / all-powerful? 
This could be seen as restricted by absolutely nothing except its own nature. The power to actualise the best possible world.

Is the Absolute omniscient / all-knowing?
If the Absolute is a point that is on every point in time and on every point in space and also on every ontological level, and if this all includes perception, awareness, and understanding, then the Absolute / God  would be omniscient.
Knowing all true propositions.
It would seem that this knowledge would be more intuitive then analytical.
If the Divine would be the origin of the fine-tuning, then it would point to a highly knowledgeable cause.

Is God (the Absolute) omnibenevolent / all-good?
Good not in terms of human morality but as the highest level of order.
The power to actualise a world of maximum value.
The aim of creation isn’t necessary anthropocentric, in a way that it is concerned with every individual, but it is definitely involved on a collective scale.
This because humans are the only biological species that can develop subtle energies on the highest ontological levels.
And the universe is unquestionably fine-tuned for life.
About the fine-tuning for life, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoI2ms5UHWg

Is the Absolute self-existent?
Self-existent means not dependent on anything else, without an external cause. So the answer to the question is yes.

Is the Absolute temporal or timeless?
In the Absolute there is no distinction between past and future.
Not infinite temporal duration but timelessness.

Did the Absolute create time?
The creation of spatial structures implies the creation of time.

Is God (the Absolute) perfect?
God doesn’t depend on anything apart from itself,
is the highest form of order, the deepest ultimate value.
All perfection therefore exists within the Divine, not as something added on to its existence, but as an integral part of its intrinsic identity.

Self-reflection in the Absolute  
This state of being is identical to Turiya and Turiyatita (vision).
Descriptions of this state, are nearly impossible to give because normal categories we use in the natural world don’t apply to it.

See: J.J.Poortman’s book:”Tweeërlei Subjectiviteit.”

Did Consciousness cause the cosmos
According to Advaita Vedanta, the non-dualistic school of Hinduism, Brahman is the underlying consciousness that is the foundation of all reality.
If the Absolute did create the manifest world(s) and consciousness is identical with the Absolute, then one could say that Consciousness did cause the cosmos.
Consciousness is causative of the physical world; mass, energy, space and time can be seen as derivatives of consciousness.

(This off course means consciousness as a totality, and not the consciousness of an individual human being)

Did God (the Absolute) create from nothing?
If there is no material cause for the creation of the physical universe, then the physical universe was created out of nothing.
However, if there was a process of involution, a process by which the Kosmic emanating force or potential gradually descends from the Spirit into different dimensions of reality, with the physical dimension being the last in the sequence. Then creation of the physical universe wouldn’t be from nothing but out of this (nevertheless transcendental) higher ontological worlds, which would have been in existence before the creation of the physical universe.
However the creation of the totality of all ontological worlds, that would be creation out of nothing.

Does the Absolute have  traits?
Traits are external properties, outside the Absolute.
The Absolute is beyond categories, and has no attributes at all.

Traditional Ideas about God 

Why the God of the old testament and the Olympic Gods are described with major character flaws?
Initially the mythical descriptions of god or gods were based on personifications of the forces of nature.
Because of the difficult circumstances, many people died young and many diseases where fatal, people where dependent on an unpredictable unsteady environment, lived in fear and projected this in their the images of gods.
Beyond that, the Olympic Gods where personifications of collective archetypical principles within humanity, and as so they reflected human flaws.

Theodicy: the question, why a good God permits evil.  Click here for more details

Messiah 
Who is part of the Divine identity.
Is consubstantial, of the same nature as God.
The Divine force within space and time, is the totality of all energy on the highest level of existence.
The Messiah is a high causal level mystic, which means that this person has fully activated energies on the highest level of existence.
Because of this, the essence of a high causal level mystic is one with the Divine.

Socinianic God (Evolutionary)
God as being subject to the unfolding nature of creation, developmental.
This doesn’t refer to the Absolute which is outside time, but to the Divine force which is inside time. 
The concept of an evolutionary God is to be found in different spiritual traditions: Within Christianity a socinianic God (Socinianism was also known as Unitarianism), in Buddhism the Dharmakaya, Aurobindo’s Supramental, while Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit paleontologist, in “The Phenomenon of Man” argued for evolution aiming at the “Omega Point”.
This off course does refer to the Divine force and not to the Absolute, which transcends space and time and by its very nature cannot be evolutionary. The idea that God develops with the creation is relevant for the theodicy, because the question why doesn’t God interfere can then be answered by saying that this will take place at the “Omega Point”, and the processes that follow: Supramentalisation and Divinisation, to which Christ referred to as the coming of the kingdom of God.

The intelligence of God within space and time
God within space and time can be seen as the totality of subtle energies on the highest ontological level, which forms a unity.
While these energies are (in contrary to the Absolute) within space and time and in a process of development, its ability to acquire and apply knowledge, understanding, comprehension, and process information seems to be based upon non- local resonance between subtle energies on the highest ontological level.
A kind of a unifying,  interacting totality.

Trinity
The Absolute is described as the first person
The Messiah is the second person of the trinity
The holy spirit is seen as the third person, which is the dynamic force and presence of the Divine.

While on one hand they are treated as distinct and separate entities, they are also considered to be one.
As the Absolute is identical to consciousness it is easy to see a person and the conscious principle being one.
The Messiah has fully activated energies on the highest level of existence.
Because of this, the essence of a high causal level mystic is one with the Divine.

1^st , 2^th , 3^th perspective of the Divine
3^th perspective of the Divine: Manifest objects, involutionary levels.
2^th perspective of the Divine: Process, becoming.
1^st perspective of the Divine: Consciousness, Platonic worlds, Block universe, Turiyatita.

The concept of sin
What traditionally is called sin, is any action, feeling, or thought that goes against moral or spiritual norms or transcendent values.
In the Bible’s original languages, the words for sin mean “to miss a mark,” or a target.
This can be seen as such that sin is lower level instinctual behaviour, aspects of unconscious life, which should be replaced with a higher level functioning.
So on one hand these lower level subconscious functions are absolutely necessary, but on the other hand higher conscious functions should transcend the lower.

Collective sin?
If what is called “sin” is instinctual, then because of the fact that instincts by their very nature are a part of every human, then sin is part of the collective unconsciousness, to use a Jungian term. So one can speak indeed of collective sin.
The idea that the Messiah can take the collective sin upon himself, means that such a person is able to connect himself deeply with the collective unconsciousness and to unite this unconsciousness with the energy on the highest ontological levels.
This then would lead to a collective transformation.

Why didn’t God create a world without sin?
What is called sin, is connected to instinctual patterns, which are functional on their own level, but generate conflicts when they interfere with higher level functioning. However if reflexes and instincts within humans would be under complete conscious control, then humans wouldn’t have been able, or have the mental space  to develop higher level functions (the mind would be too much occupied with the enormous amount of information).

While the pre-programmed reflexes and instincts rigidly constrains us, it is the existence of that rigid constraint that provides humans with the ability and freedom to develop higher level functions, be it aesthetic, cognitive, social / communicative, moral and spiritual capacities.
It is just because of the fact that humans possess all this automatisms, this innate complex of behaviour patterns, that makes it possible to develop rich cognitive systems such as our capacity to deal with abstract properties of the number system, the capacity for understanding,  the capacity for language, the capacity to create intelligible, explanatory theories in different domains, to make very innovative leaps of creativity and develop explanatory theories which does enrich our worldview and so on.

Primary and secondary movers
The unmoved mover ‘that which moves without being moved’) or prime mover (Latin: primum movens) is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause (or first uncaused cause) or “mover” of all the motion in the universe.
As is implicit in the name, the “unmoved mover” moves other things, but is not itself moved by any prior action. In Book 12 (Greek: Λ) of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation: self-contemplation. He equates this concept also with the active intellect. This Aristotelian concept had its roots in cosmological speculations of the earliest Greek pre-Socratic philosophers and became highly influential and widely drawn upon in medieval philosophy and theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborated on the unmoved mover in the Quinque viae.

Aristotle argues, in Book 8 of the Physics and Book 12 of the Metaphysics,

“that there must be an immortal, unchanging being, ultimately responsible for all wholeness and orderliness in the sensible world”  (Wikipedia)

The unmoved mover of Aristoteles is the Absolute.

Faith
Pre-logical: complete trust or confidence in someone or something, strong belief in the doctrines of a religion.
Logical: trust or confidence based on logical grounds. Conceptual.
Translogical: based upon intuition. Perceptual feeling, direct.
Spiritual: based upon revelation.    Perceptual seeing.
Mystical: based upon union.           Perceptual being.

Can  a good God be compatible with the reality of hell?
The traditional concepts of heaven and hell are usually not very sophisticated hypotheses and generate some very serious questions relating to the theodicy and God’s goodness:

On higher ontological levels similar energies attract each other, resonate with each other. And different energies push each other away. 

When someone has a very negative state of mind, then this person creates therefore a negative environment on this ontological level and attacks similar energies . When this person changes this into a positive state of mind of compassion, sympathy and so on, this will have the result that because of that, the energy quality of the environment also changes in a very positive way. Because old habits die hard, one can fall back, but eventually one shall succeed in functioning permanently on a higher level.
Click here for more details

Baptism in the holy spirit
In Christian theology, the work of the Holy Spirit under the Old Covenant is viewed as less extensive then that under the New Covenant inaugurated on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit was restricted to certain chosen individuals, such as high priests and prophets. Often termed the “spirit of prophecy” in rabbinic writings, the Holy Spirit was closely associated with prophecy and divine inspiration.
This refers to the descent of the energy from the highest ontological level downwards.

The fall of man
The fall of man, or the fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. Although not named in the Bible, the doctrine of the fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis chapter 3.
The fall means that the soul takes on a physical body,  it is now born into the physical world, and becomes mortal.

The Covenant
Covenant, a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between individuals, groups, and nations. It has social, legal, religious, and other aspects. Here it is concerned primarily with the term in its special religious sense and especially with its role in Judaism and Christianity.
A number of covenants is mentioned:

The Abrahamic covenant (430 year before the Exodus)
The Mosaic covenant (14th/13th century BC)
The Elijah covenant (9th century BC)
The 5th century BC covenant
The (new) covenant by Jesus himself

Remarkable is that if one maps the major spiritual persons on a time scale of 4000 years, a pattern of about 425 years becomes visible, which is very close to the data of the covenants mentioned in the bible.
Click here for more details

Glorification
The glorification as the total transformation of the whole Kosmos  is the central theme of Christianity and many other spiritual teachings.

There are two different  glorifications:
The temporary individual glorification (by Christ at the mount Tabor)
and the permanent collective glorification of the whole Kosmos in the future. (Omegapoint).

Resurrection
Traditionally resurrection is the concept of coming back to life after death.
As a religious concept, it is used in several distinct respects:

—-Near Death Experiences (non-physical): the soul is the actual vehicle by which people are resurrected
—-In reincarnation (physical)
—-Belief in a singular resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. (physical)
—-In the belief of a trans physical resurrection at the Omega point (non-physical) at the highest ontological level. The resurrection in this higher sense doesn’t just mean life after death, but deliverance, salvation.

Kingdom of God
The name given by Christ to  the collective transformation, that will take place when the energy of the highest ontological level (what is traditionally called the Divine),  activated through feedback loops, descents all the way down into the physical world.

The prophet
In religion, a prophet is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on that entity’s behalf, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy.
A prophet is a causal level mystic.

Salvation
Also called redemption, deliverance.
In religion, salvation is saving  the soul from sin and its consequences.
But this statement has little explanatory value.
When human development reaches a critical point at a certain moment then one’s focal point of consciousness is on such a high level that one is free from been engulfed by lower impulses.
Religions often emphasize the necessity of both personal effort—for example, repentance and asceticism—and Divine action (e.g. grace)

Universalism
Universalism (view that God’s grace is universal, for all people independent of their religion or origin) the belief that all humankind will eventually be saved.
When someone leaves the physical world behind, after death some instinctual processes who were activated during one’s physical life, can still have an impact on one’s mental functioning. As these instinctual processes are no longer necessary or even desirable they have to be eliminated.
These residual processes can temporarily keep the focus point of consciousness on ontological level 2, the level of emotions.
What in religious terms is called saved, means that one is free from the lower emotions and that one’s focus point of consciousness is situated on  higher ontological levels. These processes are universal. 
It applies to everyone that the energetic processes on higher levels are much stronger than on lower levels so everyone will be drawn upwards so to speak. By purification of one’s mental processes on can speed up the process.
In a great majority of the people the social and moral development is  already on a sufficient high level so that one immediately passes on to the higher ontological levels.

What is eternity?  
Indefinite continuation or timelessness:

“If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein

Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief in many gods — it’s generally seen as opposite of monotheism, which is the belief in one god.
However Hinduism, which is considered to be polytheistic (belief in devas)  has also the concept of Brahman, The God of Hinduism.
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which are all examples of monotheism, nevertheless believe in the concept of angels, which is comparable to the Hindu concept of devas.

Mythical gods
According to Carl Jung: ”Deities are personified representations of the unconscious”

Battle of the Titans vs. the Olympian gods.  
The titans can be seen as personifications of the physical forces of nature, which were anthropomorphised. 

The shift from the Titans, to the Olympian Gods, who can be seen as personifications of archetypical psychological structures, was around the eighth century BC.

The myths of the Olympians, instead of being seen as a historical account, are allegorical narratives that are psychological dramas in the inner world. The battle between the Titans (an older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Olympians (the younger generations, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus) and their allies, was a paradigmatic shift in Greek thinking.

Apocalypse
John’s revelation, which is the last book of the New Testament, gives a graphic description of a cosmic end battle. Although it is written down as a power struggle between good and evil forces in the outside world, it describes in a symbolic allegorical way  the mystical inner processes that occur during a mystical transformation. Click here for more details

The Avatar
According to Meher Baba, a Perfect Master, according to Baba, is a
God-realized person (one whose limited individualized consciousness has merged with God) who can use his Divine attributes of Infinite Power, Knowledge and Bliss for the spiritual upliftment of others
Meher Baba said that the number of Perfect Masters on the Earth is exactly five (one finds an indication of the same number by Krishnamurti).

                                      Matthew 25:1-13 the Parable of the five bridesmaids

In Sufism, a Qutb is the perfect human being, al-Insān al-Kāmil (The Universal Man), who leads the saintly hierarchy. The Qutb is the Sufi spiritual leader that has a divine connection with God and passes knowledge on which makes him central to, or the axis of, Sufism, but he is unknown to the world. There are five Qutbs per era and they are infallible and trusted spiritual leaders. They are only revealed to a select group of mystics because there is a “human need for direct knowledge of God”.

According to the Institute of Ismaili Studies, “In mystical literature, such as the writings of al–Tirmidhi, Abd al–Razzaq and Ibn Arabi (d. 1240), [Qutb] refers to the most perfect human being who is thought to be the universal leader of all saints, to mediate between the Divine and the human and whose presence is deemed necessary for the existence of the world.” (Wikipedia)

Meher Baba asserts that beyond the five Perfect Masters of the age, there is also the Avatar.
This is one of the five Perfect Masters, Buddha’s, Jivanmukta’s,  high causal level mystics.
The Avatar has a stronger connection with the Absolute.

The number five could be related to the five main energy groups.

Trialism Christian   
Body, soul and spirit.
While the soul is seen as the incorporeal essence of a living being. Soul or psyche have the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception, thinking, etc.
The spirit is that part of a human which is associated with the higher level(s) of incorporeal essence.

Trialism Platonic 
One can distinguish  physical, mental and platonic worlds, in which the Platonic realm is seen as eternal.

Trialism Poperian
Karl Popper’s three interacting worlds:
World 1: the world of physical objects and events, including biological entities.
World 2: the world of mental objects and events.
Popper’s World 3 contains the products of thought. These include abstract objects such as scientific theories, stories, myths, tools, social institutions, and works of art. World 3 is not to be conceived as a Platonic realm, because it is created by humans.

Tao
Laozi in the Tao Te Ching explains that the Tao is not a ‘name’ for a ‘thing’ but the underlying natural order of the Universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe due to it being non conceptual yet evident’ in one’s being of aliveness.
There is the “named Tao” and the Tao itself (the “unnamed Tao”)
the “unnamed Tao” is the Absolute.

Buddha
The Buddha is a historical person, 
A Buddha is what one could call a high causal level mystic.

Holy spirit
The Divine force within space and time, the totality of all energy on the highest ontological level.

Buddhism and the Divine
While Buddhism is sometimes seen as atheistic, it has a concept for
the Divine within time: The Dharmakaya, and a concept for the Absolute: the Svabhavakaya.

Other ideas about God

Developmental concepts of God
Different levels of conceptualisation
12. Ultimate identity
11. Union
10. Numinous
  9. A transcendent force
  8. An immanent force
  7. A impersonal Kosmic force
  6. A personal God
  5. Watchmaker God
  4. Anthropomorphic image
  3. Personification of collective psychological forces (Mythical)
  2. Personification of forces of nature (Magical)
  1. Animism

Monotheism
Monotheism refers to a unitary concept. On the highest ontological level the energy structures which are extended in space, are nevertheless non-locally connected.
The realisation of this oneness gave rise to the concept of monotheism.

A personal or an impersonal force?
One can call the Divine a personal force in the sense that it has awareness, intelligence, intentions and is knowledgeable. However by treating the Divine as a personal force, one risks that it is seen as anthropomorphic.
Our idea of what the concept of a person is, has all kind of connotations, which one shouldn’t project to an intelligent transcendent Kosmic force.

A personal God
The God who concerns himself with human affairs, and this on an individual basis. But Divine intervention may not be applicable on this kind of scale.
As such this is  an a anthropocentric view.
On the other hand the description of the Divine as an abstract force / organising principle, excludes such factors as conscious awareness, intentionality and will.

To quote David Bohm: ”People had the insight in the past about a form of intelligence that had organized the universe and they personalized it and called it God. A similar insight can prevail today, without personalizing it and call it a personal God”.   

The map and the territory
While theology and philosophy develop cognitive models of a transcendent reality, the essence of spirituality isn’t to make a map, but to move into the territory, to attain higher levels of consciousness.

Conceptualisation and transformation
The conceptualisation of a higher reality as within theology and philosophy use cognitive theoretical approaches. Spiritual transformation has to do with the development of subtle energies on higher ontological levels,
phase-transitions which gives access to these higher levels.

Macro level or Micro level involvement
If there is intervention by a transcendent force, an intelligent creator (usually identified as God) that was involved not only in the creation of the world, but is also involved in maintaining the world, then the question is, in what way? What are the levels and details of its involvement?
Its involvement in human affairs may only be on a collective level.
Click here for more details

Deism or theism
Deism holds that God created the universe but does not intervene with the functioning of the natural world in any way, allowing it to run according to the laws of nature. 
The problem with this is that life, biological development started 10 billion years after the Big Bang and appears to be extremely fine-tuned, by what seems to be a transcendent force.
Constructive elements of deist thought included: God exists and created the universe and God gave humans the ability to reason.                                                                              

Theism holds that God created the universe and does intervene with the functioning of the natural world and holds the view that all observable phenomena are dependent on but distinct from one supreme being. Theists seek support for their view in rational arguments and appeal to empirical data.
Arguments for God’s existence are of four principal types: cosmological, ontological, teleological, and moral.
A central issue for theism is reconciling God, usually understood as omnipotent and perfect, with the existence of evil.

Intelligent Design
The study of patterns in nature, which are explained best as the result of intelligence, some transcendental force. Intelligent design would be consistent with the theistic concept of a intervening God. It would indicate a teleological, adapting causal power that arranges means to fulfill certain purpose. It concerns research after:
Contingency : a possible but not very likely future event or condition;
        something that didn’t have to happen,
Specified complexity: something that is hard to reproduce by chance and natural selection,
Specification: An independent pattern to which it conforms.

Newton about the solar system:
“Though these bodies may indeed continue in their orbits by mere laws of gravity, yet they could by no means have at first derived the regular position of the orbits themselves from those laws. Thus, this most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”
General Scholium (general introduction) to the Principia.

Can the Absolute change?
If change implies change within time, then this is logically impossible, because there is no before and after in the Absolute.
The Absolute is immutable.
The Divine force which is within time (traditionally called the holy spirit) however, can change and can develop.

Who or what created God (the Absolute)?
God is by definition uncreated, because something which is outside time has no beginning and therefore uncreated.

Is God (the Absolute) the greatest possible being?
“Greatest” is a dualistic description, and what is called God is outside duality.

The Divine in absolute terms
If God is all-powerful can he create a stone that is so heavy that he cannot lift it?
To use absolutes in relation to properties leads to all kind of paradoxes.
The proposed properties can only be maximum to a logical possible degree.

Mind

Unembodied mind
One can ask how an unembodied mind can exist while every mind we know is embodied. The black swan fallacy: because all swans I know are white, there are no black swans. If consciousness is fundamental and precedes physical creation, then an unembodied mind isn’t impossible. Nevertheless Substance Dualism postulates that the human mind is composed of a subtle non-physical form of matter which exists on a higher ontological levels. However, the Absolute, is an unembodied mind.

Neurological processes and the mind.           
While it is clear that what is called mind and mental activity is very strongly correlated to neurological processes, the question is whether the mind can be reduced to physiological mechanisms.  This especially related to consciousness and what are called qualia. That mind and mental activity are physiological processes is not proven and belong to what is called a “black box theory”, (A black box is a device, object, or system whose inner workings are unknown; only the “stimuli inputs” and “output reactions” are known characteristics).
This is called promissory materialism.
And physicalists don’t collect data that won’t support their narrative.

The brain-mind identity theory is a logical fallacy by which correlation and causation are mixed up.
The symphony orchestra isn’t in the radio.

What is extended mind?
The mind extended beyond the brain.
Traditionally the extended mind was called the soul.
The mind is not reducible to the brain, or even limited to brain functions.
The mind is extended in several different ways:
It is a non-physical subtle energy field, which stretches out beyond the physical body.
It is extended in time beyond the timespan of the physical body.
It is extended to a certain degree because it transcends space and time, for the reason that it has the capacity for non-local perception.
 
It is possible that the extended mind is responsible for the solution of the visual binding problem.

Intentionality
The influence of the mind on the body, such as the placebo effect which is a universally recognised phenomena, in which someone alters their own physical functioning, by intentionality the mind has the ability to alter one’s physical well-being. 

Directed attention
Conscious attention can act at a distance outside the body.  
Parapsychological research has shown that intentionality can lead to an active, non-local influence, be it perceiving, communication or acting.

One cannot solve ultimate questions, because one cannot know the mind of God?
This is a point of view which is brought forward by some theologians. However mystics consciously take part in a developing kosmic process, with higher forms of perception and deeper intuitions, which give insights into kosmic processes.

Contact with the Absolute

Interaction with the Absolute
The absolute can directly been known, fully encountered, beyond conceptual comprehension.
Basically being conscious is already being in contact with the Absolute, because the Absolute and consciousness are identical.
This happens to a higher degree in a state of flow.
But there are even states beyond that, such as:
Nirodha, Sahaja samadhi, turiya(tita), Advaita, which are timeless, beyond space and time.

Kurt Gödel:”The ultimate goal… of all philosophy, is the perception of the Absolute. “When Plato could fully perceive the Good, his philosophy ended.”

Prayer / communication with the Divine
Prayer is an effort to connect the individual with the Kosmic consciousness.
There are several levels of prayer:

1.Naïve prayer  —  mechanical, repetitive

2.Magical prayer  —  connected to magical thinking

3.Selfish prayer  —  prays for egocentric aims

4.Mythical prayer  —  mythical  image of God

5.Compassionate prayer  — prays for others

6.Communion prayer  — non-verbal prayer

7.Meditative prayer  — non-conceptual prayer

8.Spiritual prayer  — contact prayer, deep insights.

9.Mystical prayer  — contact prayer, deep inspiration

10.Kosmic prayer  — contact with Kosmic force, deep revelation

11.Union prayer  — union with Kosmic force

12.Oneness prayer  — supreme identity 

Worship
Worship is traditionally seen as an expression of reverence and adoration to a deity.
This is related to the idea that a Kosmic transcendental force will ask humans to express their appreciation which is a rather anthropomorphic view which lack conceptual clarity.
A more fruitful idea is that a certain directionality towards the transcendent is necessary to become in contact with the transcendent.
This is more or less like a creative person who is searching for inspiration which comes also from an outside source.
Furthermore it is a method by which one tries to generate a very strong focus on one mental image with exclusion of all other mental images.
The next step is then to let the remaining mental image go.
This generates a state of mind which is free of thought processes. 
This is an empty state of consciousness which makes contact with the transcendent possible.  

Phenomenology of communication with the Divine within space and time
This would include revelation, mystical ecstasy, glorification, highly activated concentrations of subtle energies on higher ontological levels.

Phenomenology of communication with the Absolute
Technically this cannot be described as an experience because that would imply a movement in time, it is a non-dual state.
So not an experience, but a state of being.
It is not an ecstatic state, such as in case of experience of the highly activated subtle energies on a high ontological level, but a state of extraordinary clearness, clarity, lucidity.  Pure consciousness.

Union and identity
Union is the interconnectedness of two (or more) elements.

With Identity there isn’t any multiplicity only oneness, One without a second.

Consciousness.

The Absolute and consciousness are identical.
They are both:
Non-local, not an extended field,
Cannot be divided,
Fundamental,
Not compounded of multiple parts,
Immaterial.

Atman
The atman is the focal point of consciousness.

Atman = Brahman  paradox.
How can the many be the same as the one without a second?
Click here for more details

What is consciousness?
Consciousness is the fundamental nature of reality.
The idea that consciousness is identical with the Absolute has been put forward by many philosophers: Plotinus, Nagarjuna, Ramana and
descriptions of nondual consciousness can be found within Hinduism Advaita Vedanta (turiya, sahaja), Buddhism (Buddha-nature, rigpa, shentong), and western Christian and neo-Platonic traditions (henosis, mystical union).

This would mean that consciousness existed before the Big Bang and isn’t  just some epiphenomenon of biological systems.
Consciousness is not an emergent property, it is not reducible to physical  processes.
Mystical experiences give rise to the notion that consciousness is fundamental.

Many modern theoretical physicists proposed that consciousness is fundamental:
Erwin Schrodinger,
Eugene Wigner,
John von Neumann,
Alfred North Whitehead,
Sir James Jeans,
David Bohm,
John Wheeler,
Henry Stapp,
Brian Josephson,
Alexander Vilenkin.

Consciousness is necessary for:
Understanding
Aesthetic appreciation
Meaning
Intentionality
Qualia
Feelings
High-level functioning
Creativity
Intuition, translogical insight
Inspiration
Genius
Furthermore within some interpretations of Quantum mechanics consciousness plays a fundamental roll.
Consciousness is non-algorithmic.
Consciousness is not a physical or biochemical process
While consciousness has a cumulative presence in ever more complex systems, it cannot be reduced to fundamental physical or biochemical processes.
Consciousness is a single entity that cannot be subdivided into independent parts.
Consciousness is one, undivided, even in the case of split-brain patients.
Consciousness is utterly unlike anything we understand from a physical perspective.

The nature of the existence of consciousness points to a reality beyond the physical world.

Consciousness is fundamental and cannot be explained in terms of other things
American cognitive psychologist  Donald Hoffman:

There are no scientific theories that start with a physical description of the brain neural activity and give you consciousness.
There’s nothing remotely plausible and there are no good ideas about how that might be done.
That’s the state of play and we should be very very frank about it. There are no scientific theories.
There are no remotely plausible ideas about how to do that and that’s what got me thinking about this. I mean I tried.
I’m a physicalist at heart like everybody else but when everybody’s failing deeply and I have no good ideas, no one has any good ideas about how to start with a brain and get consciousness.
http://www.themindoftheuniverse.org/play?id=Donald_Hoffman&s=2005890&e=2013190             00:38:15 – 00:38:44

Consciousness and the content of Consciousness
When people talk about consciousness they generally talk about the content of consciousness.
Pure consciousness is like a mirror which reflects, but itself remains unchanged.

Understanding
Roger Penrose: “Understanding cannot be computational simulated,
and Intelligence requires understanding. …It doesn’t make sense to say that we do understand something without even being aware of it.”

Some materialistic philosophers deny the existence of consciousness, but without consciousness nether philosophy nor science would be possible.
It is remarkable that when materialistic philosophers denied the existence of consciousness, the role of consciousness was introduced within certain interpretations of Quantum theory. 

Aesthetic appreciation
The appreciation of the beautiful, for instance in nature  and art, belongs to the qualia, so is not the result of neurophysiological processes, but finds its origin in the perception of activated subtle energies on higher ontological levels.

Supreme identity
It is a state beyond union. With union there are two elements which are connected. In case of supreme identity there are no two elements, just oneness.

Non-dual mysticism
In spirituality, nondualism, also called non-duality, means “not two” or “one undivided without a second”. Nondualism primarily refers to a mature state of consciousness, in which the dichotomy of I-other is “transcended”, and awareness is described as “centerless” and “without dichotomies”. Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous  it usually follows prolonged preparation through ascetic or meditative/contemplative practice, which may include ethical injunctions. While the term “nondualism” is derived from Advaita Vedanta, descriptions of nondual consciousness can be found within Hinduism (Turiya, sahaja), Buddhism (Buddha-nature, rigpa, shentong), and western Christian and neo-Platonic traditions (henosis, mystical union).  (Wikipedia)
Non-dual mysticism is not the union between two elements, it is undivided oneness. Pure awareness.

Mysticism in the work of Plotinus:

“No doubt we should not speak of seeing but, instead of seen and seer, speak boldly of a simple unity. For in this seeing we – neither distinguish nor are there two. The man … is merged with the Supreme, one with it. Only in separation is there duality. This is why the vision baffles telling; for how can a man bring back tidings of the Supreme as detached when he has seen it as one with himself. . . . Beholder was one with beheld . . . he is become the unity, having no diversity either in relation to himself or anything else . . . reason is in abeyance and intellection, and even the very self, caught away, God-possessed, in perfect stillness, all the being calmed.”

(Plotinus, Works, trans. by Stephen MacKenna, New York, New York Medici Society, Enneads VI, IX, and XI. Quoted by Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy)

Oneness and the levels of consciousness
While there are different levels of consciousness, pure consciousness itself transcends all levels, and is one, undivided.

Levels of consciousness
There are different  levels of consciousness, because there are different layers, stratifications of different subtle energies.
These different layers, stratifications correspond exactly to the developmental stages from:
Piaget – cognitive development
Kohlberg – moral development
Maslow – motivational development
Loevinger – ego development

The stages that did manifest within these different lines of development
essentially are similar.
This because they all correspond to different levels of subtle energies.

States of Consciousness

Phenomenology of nirvana
Consciousness without thought processes.
The emptiness within space and time.
This state of permanent deep meditation, which is called Nirvana, has been described by St. Paul in Philippians 4:7 as: 
⁷ …The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
Click here for more details

Phenomenology of nirodha
A non-dual state.
The emptiness outside space and time.
A non-dual state of pure consciousness (oneness with the ground of being, turiya – turiyatita, sahaja-samadhi, nirodha, advaita and so on) is the state that existed before the creation of the Kosmos.
Click here for more details

Flow
{Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi identify the following six factors as encompassing an experience of flow.

1. Intense and focused concentration on the present moment
2. Merging of action and awareness
3. A loss of reflective self-consciousness
4. A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
5. A distortion of temporal experience, one’s subjective experience of time is altered
6. Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience. (Wikipedia)}

Mystical states   
The direct encounter, intimate union, beyond concepts.
The real and immediate presence of the Divine.

Turiya
Timeless awareness.
While nirvana is the emptiness of space, turiya is the emptiness of spacelessness, transcending space and time. Turiya is not a level, but the background of all levels.
Click here for more details

Turiya-tita
Beyond Turiya.
Turiyatita is the connection between the Absolute and the world of form.
Click here for more details

Turiya-tita-vision
The visual perception of the external world whereby the zero point of orientation is the Absolute.
Click here for more details

Levels of existence

The heavens   
Within many traditional religious writings there is the concept of higher ontological worlds.
One of the central questions in human existence, is whether there is life after death. A source of evidence relating to this question is in what is called “near-death experiences.” These are experiences of persons who met the criteria for clinical death. They undergo experiences, often seen as experiences of the world that awaits them after death. A large numbers of persons report having had such experiences, which support the reality of higher ontological worlds, which can be interpreted as heavens.

Levels of existence
Human functioning has a stratified structure, and although there are different developmental lines, they all follow the same successive stages. These are not only psychological stages, but they correspond to ontological levels of existence, fundamental objective realities.

Essential role of the physical world
This deals with the question: which influence has the physical world upon subtle energies, especially the influence of the physical body on the soul?
The central idea here is that a physical existence has a fundamental structuring influence on the soul, which gives it properties it otherwise wouldn’t  have.

Anthropocentrism
From a naturalistic point of view humans have a non-privileged spatio-temporal position within the world, but according to spiritual traditions there is some special role for humans in the universe.
What is called the human soul consists of an assembly of non-physical subtle energy fields. Because these fields are connected to a physical body they develop different capacities. The most important quality is that they now can develop to the highest ontological level.
The totality of subtle energy fields developed by humans, makes it possible to activate a feedback loop by which the energy on the highest ontological level descends all the way to the physical level.

Ontological levels of existence
There is a description of A.P. Shepherd relating to the different levels of existence: “These worlds are dimensional levels and are not separate regions, specially divided from one other, so that it would be necessary to move in space in order to pass from one to another.
The highest worlds completely interpenetrate the  lower worlds, which are fashioned and sustained by their activities.What divides them is that each world has a more limited and controlled level of consciousness then the world above it.
The lower consciousness is unable to experience the life of the higher worlds and is even unaware of their existence, although it is penetrated by them.
But if the beings of a lower world can raise their consciousness to a higher level, then that higher world becomes manifest to them, and they can be said to have passed to a higher world, although they have not moved in space ”.                  A.P. Shepherd: “A Scientist of the invisible” 1954
                                           
How can a non-physical transcendent force have influence on the physical world?
What is postulated is a force outside of the physical universe.
Within theoretical physics there is a description of what is called a wave function.  This is not a material object or material process, it really exists more on the level of mind, the mental world. It’s a vector in a linear Hilbert space (which is an abstract space). It exists in a mental realm, corresponding to the mind which exists in a mental realm.
“But a wave-function cannot be a physical object. A wave-function is a description of a probability.” Freeman Dyson-

In what is called “the Wave Function Collapse” there is nothing physical that causes it, is a transfer of a mental probability to a physical actuality. At least this is one possibility by which something non-physical can have influence on the physical world.

Existence
The fact of pure existence itself leads to a fundamental question:
Science explains the phenomenal world after it has come into existence.
While science explains wat happens after the Big Bang, the question why something came into existence is not answered by science. As such existence can be seen as pointing in the direction of a transcendent cause.

The location of higher world spaces.    
We already reside in the non-physical world: our consciousness, qualia, feelings are “located“ within that higher world space.
These higher world spaces penetrate the physical world.
They co-exist at the same time.

Creative processes

Creative processes
This process is the production of something new or something imaginative. It is different from intuition, which is direct knowing, but does not necessarily imply the novel production of something. As such inspiration is more a synonym for the creative process then intuition. The creative process happens suddenly, is not the result of conscious effort, and many creative people speak of an outside force that guides them.  In many ways it seems as a process in which there is an extra-sensory communication with a Kosmic background.

Intuition
Direct process-less knowing, is not related to earlier learned information. Knowing something with a strong feeling of certainty that it is correct.
An example is human intuition in chess: Some chess world champions like Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlson gave an account of how they played chess, which made clear that they played by intuition.
According to former world champion Garry Kasparov, first intuition gives the player a candidate move, then the calculations are used to verify the soundness of the intuition.
When world champion Magnus Carlsen plays chess and explains a move, he says, “Sometimes a move just feels right.”  This indicates the operation of intuition. 
According to Kasparov:” intuition is the key to Carlsen’s success.  It is his ability to ‘feel’ what moves have potential and give him the edge over the long term – and which moves to avoid.  Carlsen has a knack for sensing the potential energy in each move, even if its ultimate effect is too far away for anyone to calculate. “ 
In interviews with Kasparov, he gleefully mentions that he relied on intuition by playing moves without calculating lines.  He relied on his chess intuition to filter out the irrelevant features of the position and draws attention to the relevant ones.  Former world champion Vishy Anand once expressed his opinion on the subject by saying “Intuition is the first move I think of.” 

Magnus Carlson: “Most of the time I know what to do, I don’t have to figure it out…. usually I just feel it immediately.”
Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik says he relies on intuition when playing chess.  He said, “Intuition is the immediate awareness of the position, but this is difficult to explain logically.   Intuition in a sense depends on knowledge; the more you accumulate, the better your intuition becomes.  But on the whole, natural talent plays the biggest part.  Good intuition is the first sign of chess talent.  Simply speaking, you may like some positions, and dislike others.  Some positions you have faith in, whereas other you do not trust at all – this is what constitutes intuitive judgement.  In a favorable position, intuition plays a less significant role, whereas in blitz, it is the most important thing.  I myself am an intuitive player; my whole game is based on intuition.  I simply reject certain variations or do not calculate them to the end, because I sense that they are incorrect.” (source:  Beliavsky & Mikhalchishin, Secrets of Chess Intuition, 2001, p. 8)
Garry Kasparov said on world champion Tal: “… he just saw it. his intuition was out of this world. Form of a player is only temporary but class, eternal…”
Intuition vs. calculation:
In the match of Garry Kasparov against supercomputer Deep Blue:
To beat human intuition Deep Blue had to calculate 200 million positions per second. (this makes it possible to quantify the capability of intuition, at what depth of calculation, a machine decision-making process could produce the same result as human creativity and intuition.)
This shows the extreme effectiveness of intuition.
“the supercomputer Deep Blue “was capable of evaluating 200 million positions per second” (from Wikipedia).

Kurt Gödel , one of the greatest logicians since Aristotle:
“Gödel was arguably the great mathematician of his time. Certainly no twentieth-century thinker did more to show that the human mind cannot be reduced to a machine. At twenty-five he ruined the positivist hope of making mathematics into a self-contained formal system with his incompleteness theorems, implying, as he noted, that machines never will be able to think, and computer algorithms never will replace intuition.” David P. Goldman

While computers can calculate much faster than humans and can play chess by brute force computation, this last is only possible because chess is a closed system.
Intuition can function within open systems.

Inspiration

While intuition normally has a pulse-character, inspiration has more of a wave-character. Inspiration often combines multiple elements. Henri van Praag, a well-known Dutch professor in the field of anthropological parapsychology, noted that with inspiration people have the sense that something “from outside” acts upon their mind. This is often not the cause with intuition. Inspiration generates an structuring which is superior to step by step or constructed mental activity. When artists or scientists look for inspiration, as they often described, they first experience a mental quietness and next they sense a shift where they experience inspiration.  Click here for more details

Revelation

Revelation is a higher form of inspiration. Revelation is more encompassing as compared to inspiration which only deals with subdivisions. Revelation is concerned with the unlocking of totally new perspectives at a larger scale. Revelation also transcends inspiration because it not only changes one’s worldview, but it has a transformational influence on the human mind as well.
Click here for more details

Creation

Involution.
Involution is a process by which the emanating force or potential gradually descends from the Spirit into the different dimensions of reality, with the physical dimension being the last in the sequence.

Involution, or emanation, is central to neo-platonic philosophy and can also be found in Platonism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, the Kabbalah, Catharism, esoteric Christianity, Pythagoreanism, and some forms of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Evolution
The different dimensions that exist after involution are undeveloped and not activated. The process of involution is followed by the process of evolution, which proceeds through successive stages.

Why the creation? / Aim of creation
As the primary purpose of creation deals with the will and the aim of the creative force.
They however are not directly accessible to human inquiry.
The creative force began a process of which the start and the teleological goal cannot be grasped directly.
However the start of this process and its final aim cannot only been understood, but one can also come into contact with this process and experience it.

Within non-dual mysticism one is in the state, which is identical to the state of the Absolute before the creation. Within Bhava samadhi one experiences the final state which is the aim of creation.

How is Divine intention actualised?
Probably by non-local resonance from the platonic realm; via what David Bohm called the Implicate order(s). And further by interaction with subtle energies on a higher ontological level.
This would mean a structuring from the platonic world.

Scientific and mathematical aspects

Does Darwinism explain the fine-tuning?
The fine-tuning of the cosmological constants cannot be by Darwinistic principles, because there is no evolution by natural selection of the cosmological constants. So this has no Darwinistic explanation.

Deism and Darwinism
As Deism is non-interventional, it is to a certain degree compatible with Darwinism.

Why is there something instead of nothing?
This relates to the question whether the existence of the world is the result of random processes or from a guided process.
If one postulates that existence is the result of random unguided processes , then it could be supported by an affirmative estimate of probabilities. However the fine-tuning such as:
1.Cosmological fine-tuning
The laws of physics, the initial conditions, the expansion rate of the universe…..

2.Stellar nucleosynthesis
Fred Hoyle

3.Geological fine-tuning
The rare earth hypothesis

4.Chemical fine-tuning
The fitness of the environment: Henderson                                                                      

5.Biological fine-tuning
The complexity of D.N.A.

These studies, using rigorous mathematical calculations, make clear that the existence of the world cannot be the result of random processes.
Click here for more details

Is the Divine (The Absolute) complex?

If there is an transcendent designer of the physical world, which is very complex, shouldn’t this designer be even more complex? 
Not necessarily, because this line of reasoning is based upon anthropocentric thinking.
These transcendental designers “mental processes” could be based upon fundamental different principles. For example process-less intuitions which are much more simpler then conclusions based upon complex algorithmic analytical processes.
Furthermore, while the laws of physics require complex mathematical calculations, its basic equations are simple. (Like E=mc²).
Even humans do experience these deep, but in essence simple insights.
Relevant to this is the concept of non-locality. The Absolute is transcendent to space and time, non-localised.
The Quantum computer makes use of non-local principles. The claim is that it can in some operations work a billion times better than a conventional computer. This doesn’t mean that it has a billion times more components.

Cosmological fine-tuning.
The fine-tuned Universe is the proposition that the conditions that allow life in the Universe can only occur when certain universal fundamental physical constants lie within a very narrow range, so that if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different, the Universe would be unlikely to be conducive to the establishment and development of matter, astronomical structures, elemental diversity, or life as it is understood.
The proposition is discussed among philosophers, scientists, theologians.
The fine-tuning is seen by many as the best evidence that there is a creative Kosmic intelligent force behind the physical world.

The scale-differences within the fine-tuning
The Planck time is by many physicists considered to be the shortest possible measurable time interval; which is a time interval of approximately 5.39 × 10 ⁻⁴⁴ seconds.
The timescale in which the fine-tuning of nucleosynthesis takes place is between 1×10^-17 sec.10 to the minus 17 seconds (nucleosynthesis) to 13.7billion years (The Big Bang until now), which is about 10 to the 18 seconds.

The smallest length is Planck length which is 1.616 × 10^-35 meters
(Below the Planck length the notion of scale breaks down).
The Super string is about 10 to the minus 35 meters
Effective radius of an electron according to classical theory  2.818 × 10^-15 meters.
Radius of a hydrogen atom 2.5 × 10^-11 meters.
D.N.A. the 3 billion base pairs in each cell to fit into a space just 6 microns across.
Length of a human; up to 2 meters.
The earth is10 to the 7^th meters across.
Solar systems are 10 to the 13^th meters across.
Galaxies are 10 to the 20^th meters across.
The known universe is 10 to the 27^th meters across.

That is an enormous range of scales, of about 62 orders of magnitude.
(Both in space and time-scale)

The fine-tuning deals with extremely complex interrelated factors which all have to exist and operate together in an extremely complicated way, on an enormous range of scales.

Mathematics and the structure of reality.
What is it that underlies the structure of reality?
Mathematical structures are real, they are not the result of a social agreement.
The applicability of mathematics to the physical world can be interpreted so that it points to transcendent force or forces that constructed the universe on this mathematical structure.
Click here for more details

Arguments against The multiverse
With the mathematical discoveries of the fine-tuning and its growing acceptance of it within the scientific community, the question was what could be the explanation of this phenomenon? 
Click here for more details  (fine-tuning)
For those who didn’t like the idea of a transcendental influence, the concept of a multiverse was an alternative explanation.
The concept of a multiverse was been brought forward by Everett but was rejected by the founders of Quantum mechanics.
While there is a growing support for this concept of a multiverse, there are many top-level theoretical physicists who objected against the concept: 
Roger Penrose:
Oxford physicist Roger Penrose says that the multiverse is “worse than useless” as explanation of the finely-tuned initial conditions because the multiverse predicts hyper-exponentially more tiny universes then large ones like ours.

The concept of a multiverse is the greatest violation of Occam’s razor in existence.  

The key issue though is that for the multiverse to be an adequate explanation for the fine-tuning it requires the conjunction of several hypotheses for which we lack any empirical evidence.

Oxford physicist Roger Penrose was interviewed for the BBC, where he exclaims that “it’s not even a theory … it’s a collection of hopes”.

Steven Weinberg: (about the multiverse hypothesis): “No one has constructed a theory in which that’s true, I mean it’s not only a speculation, the theory would be speculative but we don’t have a theory in which such speculation is mathematically realised.

George Ellis; a professor of applied mathematics who is considered one of the world’s leading theorists in cosmology, about the multiverse hypothesis: “We cannot prove any of those statements, because they are outside the observable domain, ….. it’s impossible forever, because what we can measure is limited by the speed of light no matter what radiation we use, no matter what detectors we use, this is a fundamental limitation on knowledge about the nature of the universe.”

David Gross an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, about the multiverse hypothesis: ”There is something the most physicists feel, especially given the history of physics very uncomfortable about this set of ideas….. and that is discussing a framework in which one discusses things that are in principle never observable, and that is true of a vast collection of causally disconnected so called universes.”

Physicist Neil Turok who is Director and Niels Bohr Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada. Previously he was Professor of Physics at Princeton and Chair of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge. He is also Founder and Chair of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Turok develops and tests theories of the early universe, making a number of successful predictions within the standard dark energy/dark matter cosmology.
Turok about the multiverse:
“It’s not giving any predictions at all… some people talk about the multiverse where the universe would be wild and chaotic on large scales and almost anything you could imagine would actually exist somewhere in the universe. I mean, this is literally a scenario which became very popular among a category of physicists, that there is a multiverse out there. Yet the evidence is exactly the opposite. That, as we look around us, things could not be simpler. There’s no evidence for chaos on large scales in the universe. It’s totally the opposite. It’s pristine, elegance, minimalism is all we see.
And: …what I would say is the evidence from last year, from the Large Hadron Collider in discovering the higgs boson, goes strongly against the multiverse, the multiverse is all going in the wrong direction.”

Paul Joseph Steinhardt an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist, the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton University about the multiverse: “The idea is scientifically meaningless because it explains nothing and predicts nothing. ….. Scientific ideas should be simple, explanatory, predictive. The inflationary multiverse as currently understood appears to have none of those properties.”

George Ellis; the emeritus distinguished professor of complex systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, published in 1973. George Ellis:
“And even if there was a multiverse it still would be fine-tuned but at a higher level.”

Theoretical physicist  Paul Davis: “There has been a tendency to shove aside the fine-tuning problem as solved by this mechanism (the multiverse)
in fact not just the fine-tuning problem but the origin of the laws of physics,
…we don’t have to worry about the laws of physics we just have them all out there each inhabiting different universes and therefor everything is explained. But it’s so far from explained for obvious reasons, one of these is you don’t get all these universe for nothing, you have to have a universe generating mechanism …. But this mechanism …. already requires what we can think of as Meta-laws in this multiverse. It requires a universe generating mechanism …. Quantum mechanics, relativistic causality and a whole host of other assumptions about the nature of physics in this bigger system, furthermore if you do it according to the fashionable approach you need some kind of superlaw, like string theory so you need a string theory lagrangian, you need a spacetime manifold, you need a mechanism of symmetry breaking all of this complex lawlike machinery has to be attuned to be imprinted, in this bigger system. You don’t just get that for free. You got to make that assumption. So really all you done is that the particular fine-tuned laws of this universe could have arisen as a side branch of this bigger system. But the bigger system has to have his own meta-laws and we want to know where they come from. Why do they have the form that they do.”

Prof. Paul C. W. Davies – “Where do the laws of physics come from?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj7POKgkJTs&t=548s    41.28 – 44.00

Critics such as Jim Baggott, David Gross, Paul Steinhardt, George Ellis and Paul Davies have argued that the multiverse question is philosophical rather then scientific, that the multiverse cannot be a scientific question because it lacks falsifiability, or even that the multiverse hypothesis is harmful or pseudoscientific.” (Wikipedia) 

Paul Davis:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-4N0Mclb6o

Mathematics and probability
With the arrival of the scientific method it became possible to develop sophisticated scientific models of the physical world. 
The practical applications of these theoretical developments would revolutionise society in an unprecedented way.
Many of these theories where supported by a rigorous mathematical formalism.
In the twentieth century, as a result of meticulous research, detailed numerical values became available.
With this development the question came whether these theories / models could be supported by an affirmative estimate of probabilities.
Any, if relevant, such an estimate  should be compared with the empirical time scale.

The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:

————————————————————————————————
Gravitational constant: 1 part in 10^34
The ratio of the  electromagnetic force versus the force of gravity: 1 part in 10^37
Cosmological constant: 1 part in 10^120
Mass density of universe:  1 part in 10^59
Expansion rate of universe: 1 part in 10^55
Initial entropy of the universe:  1 part in 10^ (10^123)

Compare these values with the following data:

The chances of finding a functional protein by chance is 1/10¹⁶⁴

There are 10⁸⁰ elementary particles in the universe and
there are  10¹⁸ seconds since the Big Bang
————————————————————————————————

D.N.A. has 3.1 billion letters.
The D.N.A. data strongly supports the Darwinian concept of common ancestry. But the mathematical data make it utterly improbable that this extremely complex code of 3.1 billion letters could be generated by chance and natural selection only.

It soon became clear that these numerical values for certain parameters are so finely adjusted, that this indicates that there must be organising principles at work here.

Fred Hoyle (British astrophysicist): “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.” Hoyle, F. 1982. The Universe: Past and Present Reflections. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics: 20:16.

And:

“I do not believe that any scientist who examines the evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside stars. If this is so, then my apparently random quirks have become part of a deep-laid scheme. If not, then we are back again at a monstrous sequence of accidents”
Hoyle, F, in ‘Religion and the Scientists’ (1959)

Quantum computer and non-locality
The question has been raised, that if the physical world with all its complexities has been created by a transcendent force, shouldn’t this force be even more complex? 
And with that, can one explain complexity with something that is much more complex.
Furthermore, if the creator is the Absolute, which is outside space and time, then it cannot exist of an assembly of parts, and must essentially be extremely simple.
So how can something which is simple have a superior intelligence?

First of all it seems reasonable that intelligence is connected with complexity, as intelligence is capable to deal with a high level of complexity.
But high level functioning such as intuition is processless, a direct knowing, which is simple in its nature.
Furthermore the Absolute is non-local, and the principle of non-locality has now been used within the Quantum computer.
Instead of using ones and zeros called bits, representing on or off, in long sequences as in classical computing,  a quantum bit – or qubit – uses the properties of sub-atomic particles.
Quantum systems will be capable of 10 to the power of 1,000 operations per second.
This is based on non-local operations.
It is clear this capacity is based upon a different principle, and not necessarily on an increased complexity.
The principle of non-locality and its implications has been discussed by philosophers for centuries, related to the platonic realm and the Absolute.

Is mathematics eternal?
Mathematical facts, like there is no largest prime number, is something independent of human mental activity. It has always been true.
This structure of the world is not imposed by the mathematicians.  
In Gödel’s words, “mathematical objects exist independently of our constructions.”

Is mathematics invented or discovered?
According to Platonists, mathematics is eternal, so it must be discovered.
(“Roger Penrose contends that the foundations of mathematics can’t be understood absent the Platonic view that “mathematical truth is absolute, external and eternal, and not based on man-made criteria … mathematical objects have a timeless existence of their own…”)

The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
A mathematical description of the initial conditions of the Universe shows an extreme high level of order in the beginning some 13.8 billion years ago.
This brings forth some major questions:
What is the origin of this extraordinary high level of order;
this seems to point into the direction of a transcendent source.
And:
One of the fundamental principles of physics is the second law of thermodynamics. This implies that things get more and more random as time goes on. This means that the disorder is increasing all the time. The emergence of highly complex and organised forms of life 10 billion years after the Big Bang, seems in apparent violation of the second law of thermodynamics which states that all closed physical systems (such as the physical world) tend toward a state of maximum disorder.
The idea that some transcendental force does influence the physical world, would mean that the physical world is an open system.

Big Bang
What caused the Big Bang to occur?
The question is if non-physical processes were involved in originating the universe.  If the Universe had a beginning, then what was the cause  which is required to initiate the cosmic singularity, the Big Bang? This points to a transcendent first cause outside the universe, which brought the universe into being.

Origin of life
From chemistry to biology.
Abiogenesis, or informally the origin of life, is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. While the details of this process are unknown, the prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities was not a single event, but a gradual process of increasing complexity that involved molecular self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and the emergence of cell membranes.
However there is no single, generally accepted model for the origin of life, and the chances of finding a functional protein by chance is 1/10¹⁶⁴

Dr. James Tour – Origin Of Life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1E4QMn2mxk
And:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU7Lww-sBPg&t=559s
James M. Tour is an American synthetic organic chemist, specializing in nanotechnology. Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, and Professor of Computer Science at Rice University in Houston, Texas, United States.
Of the more than 720,000 scientists who published chemistry papers in academic journals during the last decade, Tour was among the ten most-cited authors in the world. He authored 135 papers during this time, and the Thomson-Reuters list of research most referenced by other scientists in their scientific work ranked him in the top ten.

D.N.A.
Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of D.N.A. :  “The DNA molecule is the most efficient information storage system in the entire universe. The immensity of complex, coded and precisely sequenced information is absolutely staggering. The DNA evidence speaks of intelligent, information-bearing design” (Crick, 1981).
The D.N.A. has an information storage of 3.1 billion letters long.

The complexity of the cell
“A living cell is a marvel of detailed and complex architecture. Seen through a microscope there is an appearance of almost frantic activity. On a deeper level it is known that molecules are being synthesized at an enormous rate. Almost any enzyme catalyses the synthesis of more than 100 other molecules per second. In ten minutes, a sizeable fraction of total mass of a metabolizing bacterial cell has been synthesized. The information content of a simple cell had been estimated as around 10¹² bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica.”—*Carl Sagan, “Life” in Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia (1974 ed.), pp. 893-894.

“Each of those 100 trillion cells functions like a walled city. Power plants generate the cell’s energy. Factories produce proteins, vital units of chemical commerce. Complex transportation systems guide specific chemicals from point to point within the cell and beyond. Sentries at the barricades control the export and import markets, and monitor the outside world for signs of danger. Disciplined biological armies stand ready to grapple with invaders. A centralized genetic government maintains order.”—Peter Gwynne, *Sharon Begley, and *Mary Hager, “The Secrets of the Human Cell,” in Newsweek, August 20, 1979, p. 48.

Charles Darwin who, in chapter 6 of On the Origin of Species wrote:
“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”

The question is whether the proposed mechanisms for the development of these extraordinary complex systems is shown to be mathematically consistent.

Nucleosynthesis
“In 1946 Fred Hoyle published a paper, on the creation of elements and the synthesis of elements from hydrogen, Hoyle introduced (or at least formalized) the concept of nucleosynthesis in stars, building on earlier work in the 1930’s by Hans Bethe. Stellar nucleosynthesis is the process of nuclear reactions taking place in stars to build the nuclei of the heavier elements, which are then incorporated in other stars and planets when that star “dies”, so that the new stars formed now start off with these heavier elements, and even heavier elements can then be formed from them, and so on.

Hoyle also theorized that other rarer elements could be explained by supernovas, the giant explosions which occasionally occur throughout the universe, whose immensely high temperatures and pressures would be sufficient to create such elements. Remarkably, he had found a way of testing the theory of star formation in the laboratory, and was able to prove his earlier prediction that carbon could be made from three helium nuclei without an intervening beryllium stage. Although his co-worker William Fowler eventually won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his contributions to this work, for some reason Hoyle’s original contribution was never recognized.

As part of this work, Hoyle invoked the so-called Anthropic Principle to make the remarkable prediction, based on the prevalence on Earth of carbon-based lifeforms, that there must be an undiscovered resonance in the carbon-12 nucleus which facilitates its synthesis within stars. He calculated the energy of this undiscovered resonance to be 7.6 million electron-volts, and when Fowler’s research group eventually found this resonance, its measured energy was remarkably close to Hoyle’s prediction.

It was also this work that caused Hoyle, an atheist until that time, to begin to believe in the guiding hand of a god (what would later be called “intelligent design” or “fine tuning”), when he considered the statistical improbability of the large amount of carbon in the universe, carbon which makes possible carbon-based lifeforms such as humans.’
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_hoyle.html

Laws of physics
Where do the laws of physics come from? How do they originate and why are they as they are?
Are the laws of nature predating the origin of the universe?

Alexander Vilenkin: ”The laws of nature that describe the appearance of the universe in this context should have some platonic existence outside matter, space and time and we can ask in which medium they exist, normally people think at least people think that nothing that the medium of mathematics is the mind that mathematics is a human invention but mathematicians actually often think that they discovering mathematics that mathematics exist there objectively and they’re  discovering it so whatever it is there is some platonic realm where the mathematical laws of physics exist even prior to the universe.” (“ prior” although I should put into quotation marks because there is no time”,  ….”who gives the laws is a deep mystery”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LloYFp6_07o&t=303s
And  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSESZR3wC8s

However outside of physics such as in biology, there are what is called emergent laws, which arise out of complex structures.

The rare earth hypothesis
In planetary astronomy and astrobiology, the Rare Earth hypothesis argues that the origin of life and the evolution of biological complexity such as sexually reproducing, multicellular organisms on Earth (and, subsequently, human intelligence) required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances.

According to the hypothesis, complex extra-terrestrial life is an improbable phenomenon and likely to be rare. The term “Rare Earth” originates from Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000), a book by Peter Ward, a geologist and paleontologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist, both faculty members at the University of Washington.   (Wikipedia)
That life on Earth required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances brings forth the question whether all organising principles that are involved here are taken into account.
Click here for more details

What is the nature of Space and time?
Let’s take the following  thought experiment:
A wheel rolling downhill has two kinds of motion : a translation along a straight line downhill and a rotation.
These movements are in relation to its surroundings.
Now, if the hill and everything else of the surroundings didn’t exist and the wheel was the only thing in existence, then movement and time would be non-existent. 

In case of the Absolute as a dimensionless point, there wouldn’t even be spatial or temporal qualities within itself.

Does consciousness effects matter?
The interaction  between consciousness and the physical world.
When people awaken,  their mental functioning changes drastically: higher mental functions become available, instinctual patterns are replaced by logical structuring,  aesthetic appreciation, intentionality and the capacity for understanding.
If consciousness is the non-dual ground of existence and non-material, it can certainly effect the material brain.  

Consciousness and the collapse of the wave function?
“Numerous interpretations of this observational effect, associated with the “quantum measurement problem”(QMP),have been proposed. One of the earliest proposals, by John von Neumann, was based on characterization of the measurement process as a chain of interactions between physical entities–e.g., physical system, detector, eye, brain –with the process ending only when knowledge of the measurement is registered by what von Neumann called an “extra-physical” factor, i.e., an observer’s mind. “The Measurement chain only when knowledge of the measurement is registered by an extra-physical” factor.”
See:  J. V. Neumann, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1955 p.419).

This was supported by: Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Planck, Jordan, Pauli, Dirac, von Neumann, Wigner and Wheeler.

The “quantum measurement problem” is the central problem at the foundations of Quantum Mechanics.

About the Test results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSBaq3vAeY&t=1685s
Tekst:
http://deanradin.com/evidence/RadinPhysicsEssays2016.pdf

Fine-tuning and observation
Next to the question whether consciousness collapses of the wave function, there is the question whether the overall process of Kosmic development is observed.
If the fine-tuning is the result of a guided process, then given the extraordinary coherent way everything is interconnected, this would imply the possibility of detailed observation of the overal process of Kosmic development.

Is the universe a closed system?
Some scientists claim that the universe is a closed system and that because of that a transcendent force cannot interfere in the physical world.
However  that the universe is a closed system, is not a scientific theory that is proven, but a metaphysical hypothesis / construction.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument
If the universe had a finite beginning and, as a result, has a creator, hence it has a cause. This is based on the logicality of the Kalam Cosmological Argument: 1- whatever begins to exist has a cause, 2- the universe begun to exist, 3- therefore the universe has a cause. One might add a fourth premise to this argument, namely, that this cause must be metaphysically necessary (because of the logical impossibility of an infinite regress of causes), spaceless (since it created space), timeless (it created time), transcendent (it exists beyond the universe it created), and overwhelmingly powerful (it created the universe without any material cause). It is the contention of the theist that an entity of this nature wouldn’t be a far cry from the sort of god that classical theism proposes.

Basic theories relating to the Absolute

Platonic theory of forms   
Described as thoughts in the mind of God.
Abstract objects which are grounded in the mind of God, are somehow brought about by God in all worlds.
Universal abstract objects exist independently of our rational activity.
They are (mathematical) timeless eternal and unchanging facts, a platonic reality.
Abstract forms are a causal reality. Physicalism cannot explain the existence of abstract objects.
The eternal forms correspond to natural phenomena.
As they are not spatially located, the influence of these abstract objects on the phenomenological world seems to be by non-local resonance.
The question is whether there is an interaction by which the platonic world of abstract objects does influence the phenomenological world?
Some philosophers have said that there is no way that these abstract forms
can influence the real world because we can’t interact with it.
But such an interaction is apparently possible because mathematicians discover these platonic principles by mathematical intuition, which according  to Kurt Gödel is the extra sensory perception of the platonic world.
They discover the world of platonic realities, and the pattern recognition mechanisms of the mind make it possible for humans to understand the platonic worlds.
Its application through mathematics, within engineering  and science make clear that this abstract reality can influence, has causal effects in the real world.  It resulted in technology which changed peoples life.

That what is described by abstract laws has real causal power in the world. The Platonic world is eternal, timeless and pre-existed transcend space and time.

The platonic view of the nature of the laws of physics is that they transcend the physical universe and that they were in a platonic realm.
A platonic view of a transcendent reality.
A great majority of the top-level theoretical physicists, mathematicians and logicians are Platonist. 
David Chalmers surveyed a large group of professional philosophers and tried to ascertain their philosophical views; of the 931 responders  39,3 % mentioned  that they were Platonist.
His survey also shows the: highest correlations between views and specializations:
Answer                                            Area                  Non-specialists             Specialists
Abstract objects: Platonism        Metaphysics                 47.11%                        61.70%

Memory
It is generally assumed that memory patterns are stored within the brain but Ian Stevenson’s research into memories of previous lives indicate that at least a part of what we call memory has a non-neurological, non-physical character.                                                                                          
The concept of a non-physical memory is highly relevant to the questions relating to life after death. It could be that the subtle energy fields of the soul are
an information carrier for memory patterns. 

Kosmic memory
What in spiritual writings is called the Akasha chronicles or the book of life.
A collective Kosmic memory, comparable to the platonic realm of the mathematicians and scientists.

Transcending of space and time.

The Block universe
There are two major theories about the nature of time:
The A theory of time, the dynamic theory (the common sense theory)
The B theory of time, the static theory (The Block universe theory)
The Block universe theory claims that the difference between past, presence and future is just an illusion and that all moments in time are equally real and exist all simultaneously. And everything exists timelessly.

This Block universe theory of space and time is how space and time would be seen by the Absolute.

The A-theory of time, the dynamic theory is a relational view of time, in which time is a real thing, where a past, present, and future are real.
This would include the Divine force within time and the created worlds.

We normally experience a relational view of time,  so we can try to place precognition and retro cognition within the framework of the B theory of time. But in fact our focal point of consciousness is non-local and when it is disconnected from its present space-time location, it can perceive according to the B- theory of time in which different points in time are simultaneously present.
This makes it possible to place precognition and retro cognition, while we normally experience a relational view of time, like in the A-theory of time, the dynamic theory (the common sense theory), our focal point of consciousness is non-local and when it is disconnected from its present space-time location it can perceive according to the B-theory of time, the static theory (The Block universe theory) in which different points in time are simultaneously present.

Arguments related to the existence of a transcendent intelligent Kosmic force, usually identified as God.
The problem by using the term God is that it means so many different things to so many different people. Nevertheless there have been logical arguments brought forward in support of this concept.
Click here for more details

How does God relate to time? 
Here the differentiation between the Absolute and the Divine power within time is necessary:
The Absolute is timeless, unchanging
The Divine power within time is in a state of unfolding becoming, temporal becoming.

Complexity vs. Ontology
It is generally assumed that development deals with increasing complexity. To a certain degree that is correct, illustrated by the fact that higher mental functions in biological systems require a more complex brain. However one could say that the complexification of the brain is a lateral development. This is a development from simple to complex. However the vertical development is a development from multiplicity to union. For example abstract thinking, which you will need in algebra makes it possible to arrange very complex data. However algebra is in essence not of a greater complexity then concrete representational image thinking.
It’s even simpler, because it directs itself to essential elements.
An image of a cow is much more complex than the word “COW”.
This abstraction makes it possible to regulate much more complex data.
A higher ontological functioning is in itself not an increase in complexity. Intuition which is an ontological higher functioning then analytical thinking, is even much simpler.
This implies that one has to make a distinction between the increase in ontology (‘vertical’) and the increase in complexity (‘horizontal’).

Non-locality vs. Extension
If the soul was only a non-local dimensionless point, growth would be impossible.

Seriality
The biologist Paul Kammerer wrote in 1919 a  book “Das Gesetz der Serie” full of unexplainable coincidences, of occurrences which seem to repeat themselves in time. His theory of seriality deals with a-causal connections.  Click here for more details

Synchronicity 
The simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

In his book Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, Jung wrote:

…it is impossible, with our present resources, to explain ESP, or the fact of meaningful coincidence, as a phenomenon of energy. This makes an end of the causal explanation as well, for “effect” cannot be understood as anything except a phenomenon of energy. Therefore it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity. Because of this quality of simultaneity, I have picked on the term “synchronicity” to designate a hypothetical factor equal in rank to causality as a principle of explanation.

Its explanatory principle falls within of what is called the B. theory of time, the block universe.

Immanent 
Immanence, where God is said to be fully present in the physical world.

Transcendent 
In religion transcendence is a state of being beyond limitations of physical existence and is independent of them.

Active information
Based upon a field of information, potentially drawing things into being or potentially adding some kind of information or structure to systems.

Theoretical physicist David Bohm has developed an mathematical sound model describing what he called the implicate order in which the potentiality within the implicate order becomes actuality in the explicate order, the physical world.

Destiny and Meaning of Life

Omegapoint.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit, did describe what he called “Omega point”. With this concept he expressed a process in which consciousness and existence evolves towards an ultimate convergence point, a final unity that he called the Omega point.    Click here for more details

Supramentalisation.
The name Aurobindo gave to a process by which a person or collective  develops subtle energies up to the highest ontological level. If collective, then this involves a global transformation.  
Click here for more details

Divanisation
A process in which a person or humanity transforms by coming in union with the Divine which is the totality of the energetic processes on the highest ontological levels.
Divanisation on an individual level it is also called: Glorification, Deification, Apotheosis

On a collective level it refers to a Kosmic transformation  by which Kosmic ontological feedback loops are activated.
Divanisation on an individual level it is also called:
Lurianic Kabbalah                        : Tikkun‘ Olam (cosmic restitution)
Book of revelations 21:1-7           : A new Heaven and a New Earth
Hopi (Pahana)                              : End of the current Fourth world, beginning 
                                                             of the Fifth world
Hindu (Avatar)                              : Descent of the Divine awareness    
Christ described it as                    : The kingdom of God.
Click here for more details

What is the ultimate destiny of humanity and the Kosmos?
The eschatological question.   Click here for more details

What is the meaning of life?  Click here for more details

Teleology; the purpose of an immanent final cause.
Teleology or finality is a reason or explanation for something in function of its end, purpose, or goal. It is derived from two Greek words: telos (end, goal, purpose) and logos (reason, explanation).
Contemporary philosophers and scientists are still discussing whether teleological axioms are useful or accurate in proposing modern philosophies and scientific theories. Example of reintroducing of teleology in modern language is notion of attractor. (Wikipedia)

Paul Davies (British astrophysicist: “The laws [of physics] … seem to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design… The universe must have a purpose“.                                                        Davies, P. 1984. Superforce: The Search for a Grand Unified Theory of Nature. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p. 243.

Arno Penzias (Nobel prize in physics): “Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life, and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.”                                                                                                                 Margenau, H and R.A. Varghese, ed. 1992. Cosmos, Bios, and Theos. La Salle, IL, Open Court, p. 83.

Roger Penrose (mathematician and author): “I would say the universe has a purpose. It’s not there just somehow by chance.”
Penrose, R. 1992. A Brief History of Time (movie). Burbank, CA, Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Click here for more details

Destiny, providence
While persons have free will, there can be a Kosmic force which does not only foresee the future but is able to bring about a certain future by willing it. This actualising, fulfilling a certain goal directed purpose.

Eschatological future life 
Eschatological concepts cover future and final events and are concerned with the ultimate purpose and the destiny of all things. They are found in many spiritual traditions. The oldest eschatology in recorded history is the Zoroastrian eschatology, according to which there is a ‘final judgment’ after which the world will reach perfection. In Judaism there is the concept of the ‘end of days’. Remarkable is that they don’t see it as a pre-ordained event but brought about by religious observance and good deeds. Within Christianity there is the concept of the ‘Kingdom of God’. It is the central theme of Christ’s message in the Gospels. These words appear more than a 100 times in the New Testament. The Sunni-Muslims believe in the ‘judgment day’ that revolves around the purification of the earth. Within Hinduism there is the manifestation of the ‘Kalki Avatar’ by which righteousness will be established upon the earth. The Hopi Indians have the concept of the ‘day of purification’ which is followed by a great renewal.

Subtle energies and 5 groups

The transformation of Subtle energies
In concordance with the (hierarchical) psychological development of a human being, the activation of the levels of subtle energy follows a (hierarchical) developmental sequence as well. The subtle energies levels develop from the lowest level of low astral energies, to the next level of high astral energies all the way up to the highest level of high causal energies. With every level the energy-potentiality of the subtle energies presented at that level increases a manifold, because they are active on distinctly different and higher ontological levels. To be able to activate a higher subtle energy level, the energy of a lower level has to build up in activity and intensity (lateral/horizontal growth) up to a certain threshold-point, after which the energy of the next higher level can be activated. This process repeats itself and moves up the gravitational center of a person.

Subtle energies
The concept of subtle non-physical energies is to be found all over the world, recognized by many different people, in many different countries and cultures and at different periods of history. The idea is that the world does not only consists of matter which is perceptible to the senses but  also comprises a number of forms of subtler matter.
Click here for more details

Five fundamental groups  
There are five major domains of reality:

The aesthetic,
The cognitive,
The interpersonal,
The moral,
The spiritual. 

These five groups do interact with each other but each of these groups cannot be brought back to one of the four other groups.
They are represented collectively in society, as well as individually within human psychological development.

Each has its own institutes and systems:

The aesthetic: the museums and the art institutes
The cognitive: the knowledge institutes, technological systems
The interpersonal: the hospitals, the social systems, the
         communicative systems.
The moral: the judicial institutes, legal systems, the laws
The spiritual: the churches, the monasteries and the religious systems 
Click here for more details

Soul (psyche), Morality

Soul
The soul, in many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Soul or psyche are the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception, thinking, etc. In Christianity, only human beings have immortal souls
The concept of “Soul” may be equated with that of “Mind”  (Wikipedia)

Definitions of what the soul is, generally lacks conceptual clarity.

What is called a soul, is much more than just an abstract principle of organisation. From a spiritual point of view, that what is called a soul is composed of a number of subtle non-physical fields.
While there is a very strong correlation between mental activity and the brain, a great part of the mental activity is centered within these subtle non-physical fields.
Such as: Consciousness, Qualia, Aesthetic perception, Intuition, Free will, Intentionality, Understanding, Flow, Memories of previous lives, but also feelings like love, sympathy, compassion, friendship.
The soul survives the death of the physical body because it is composed of a number of subtle non-physical fields which are not dependent upon the physical body. 

Conservation of matter and energy and the soul.
John Searle: “……If you postulate some mysterious entities that are not part of the physical world ……none of these guys who think there is a separate mental substance that functions causally in the universe has ever been able to give an account of how that’s supposed to be consistent with the conservation laws, that is; is there supposed to be some spiritual energy that comes in and shakes the axons and the dendrites. I’ve never seen an account of that and where is this spiritual energy comes from and how is it consistent with a basis fundamental principle of physics, the conservation principle?”

This issue has been addressed by Nobel prise laureate John Eccles in collaboration with philosopher Karl Popper in:

John C. Eccles; “The neurophysiological basis of mind”, 1953.

John C. Eccles; ”Facing Reality”, 1970.

Karl R. Popper and John C. Eccles; “The self and its brain”, 1977.

John C. Eccles; ”The Human Psyche”, 1980.

Further:

Wilder Penfield: “There is no place in the cerebral cortex where an electrical stimulation will cause a patient to decide. (p.77) There is a causal force missing which cannot be explained by brain chemistry alone. The mind is not in the brain chemistry and cannot be explained by it.”
“The mystery of the mind”, Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey, 1975

John C. Eccles: Sir John Carew Eccles (27 January 1903 – 2 May 1997) was an Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse.

Karl R. Popper: Sir Karl R. Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher and professor. Generally regarded as one of the 20th century’s greatest philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the classical inductivist views on the scientific method in favour of empirical falsification.

Wilder Penfield: Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891 – April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery’s methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. His scientific contributions on neural stimulation expands  across a variety of topics including hallucinations, illusions, and déjà vu. Penfield devoted much of his thinking to mental processes, including contemplation of whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.

Soul making               
The soul-making theodicy rests on the idea that God allows evil to exist because the existence of evil is a necessary condition for individuals to develop or complete their moral souls.

Objective morality
Is morality a human construct in the sense of being an arbitrary construct?
Is morality merely a socio-biological adaptation or is there an Objective morality?
The idea is that there is an objective moral reality, that things are right and wrong in an absolute sense, not just in a relative sense. This in a theistic context, grounded in a transcendent reality.

Free will and decision making
Free will in which an intelligent mind chooses between possible options, includes the ability to choose between good and bad, to make ethical choices.
Free will is a necessary condition for moral responsibility; if there is no free will, then people are not responsible for their actions.
Every legal system is grounded in the idea that humans have free will, and with that moral responsibility. 
It includes higher morality, a sense of fairness, moral decision making.
Free will is not an independent random act but deals with conscious choices.
Relevant here is the book of neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield: “The Mystery of the mind”, which indicates  that there is free will, according to neurophysiological research.

Philosophical ideas

Substance dualism
Dualists claim that mental properties cannot be reduced to physical properties. Dualists consider mental and physical properties to be qualitatively different, to belong to different categories.
This means that there are physical and mental substances that interact.
Next to Substance dualism there is also Substance pluralism which postulates multiple ontological layers of qualitative different substances.

Does Divine foreknowledge imply pre-determinism?
Not necessarily. This foreknowledge could be a perception from a future point in time of a situation after it took place and “transported” back to a previous time before this situation took place.
After the future perception, the situation would still be undetermined and could still be altered in the present time.

Qualia
Neuroscience has made great progress in uncovering the mechanisms in the brain that underlie our cognitive and behavioural functioning. But this form of scientific investigation has not produced anything approaching a satisfying explanation of why it is that a person has subjective experience.
A third-person analysis of seeing a certain colour because a certain wavelength hits the retina, differentiates from what the first person experiences, of what is called qualia. This first person experience could not be possible without consciousness.

Philosophical materialism
While many scientists are philosophical materialists, philosophical materialism is not a scientific theory (in the sense that it is proven),
but a metaphysical worldview.

Wisdom
Wisdom is encountered most obviously in the realm of decision-making.
It involves an integration of knowledge, experience, deep understanding and insight that incorporates tolerance for the uncertainties of life.
There’s an awareness of how things play out over time, and it confers a sense of balance. It can be acquired only through experience, but by itself, experience does not automatically bestows wisdom. There are emotional, cognitive, social, moral, an spiritual processes that convert experience into wisdom. Wise people generally share an optimism that life’s problems can be solved and experience a certain amount of tranquillity in facing difficult decisions. Intelligence is necessary for wisdom, but it definitely isn’t sufficient; an ability to see the big picture, a sense of proportion, a considerable introspection and a deep insight into underlying structures are necessary.
Wisdom arises from contemplation upon experience. It involves nuanced reflecting, allowing for many different perspectives of a situation rather than employing polarised thinking. Being open to new ways of thinking, confronting the status quo to produce a novel or unexpected outcome.
Also to have considerable tolerance for uncertainty. Balance is a central component of wisdom as well. Wise people generally act on behalf of the common good but also ensure that their own needs are met, striving for harmony among competing demands and goals. Wise people may also seek to understand the motives of others, rather than merely judge their behaviour. In addition to fostering understanding and respect of others, wisdom often provides a fulfilling sense of purpose in life.

Pantheism  
Pantheism is the belief that reality is identical with divinity, or that all-things compose an all-encompassing, immanent god.
In recent times pantheism has a growing influence:
While pantheism is a philosophical worldview, it already did manifest itself to a certain degree experiential, empirical as nature mysticism.
(But while it is certainly on a translogical level it is only the first of five mystical levels) 
Recently panpsychism gained a growing support among philosophers, who claimed that the whole of nature contains a proto-consciousness.
Pantheism however is more a theological point of view then panpsychism, which is more a philosophical worldview.

Theism doesn’t necessarily deny the reality of nature mysticism but sees it as a subset.
However what is called God cannot be reduced to a mere principle of the natural world.

Truth and believability
Truth can be defined as corresponding to reality.
Believability however is corresponding to one’s worldview.

Extra-Sensory Phenomena / Non-local

Non-local perception
Extra sensory perception has been mentioned within the world literature
for thousands of years.
While most of these stories are anecdotal, there is intercultural validation of the concept.
In the last one and a halve century there has been academic research into this area.
The data that came out of this research indicated the existence of extra sensory perception.
But this didn’t explain its workings principle.
In the second half of the twentieth century one of the concepts within Quantum mechanics, non-locality, was confirmed.
This indicated that on a fundamental level space is transcended.
Non-locality is the principle behind extra sensory perception:
Clairvoyance / remote viewing is Non-local perception.
Telepathy is Non-local communication.

The reality of non-local communication (telepathy) As a concept
While there is a lot of supporting evidence for the existence of extra sensory perception, given that the effects are relatively small, what is its value?

One of the 20th century’s most brilliant logicians: Kurt Gödel did endorse the view that mathematical intuition comes to us through extrasensory perception, as opposed to logic or evidence.

When the great classical composers talked about their inner experience when composing, the idea of communication with a force or forces on the highest transcendental levels was seen as the only way to create music of lasting value and essential to their art.   Click here for more details

If mathematical intuition and artistic creativity depend upon extra sensory perception, then this would mean that its effects aren’t relatively small, because without mathematical intuition and artistic creativity, the highest forms of science and the highest forms of creativity wouldn’t exist.
This is also highly relevant relating to mystical experiences which are extra sensory perceptions.

The reality of non-local perception (Remote viewing) tested

Clairvoyance is supported by scientific research into the Ganzfeld effect and remote viewing.

Russell Targ:

Jessica Utts is a statistics Professor at the University of California, Irvine, and is president of the American Statistical Association. In writing for her part of a 1995 evaluation of our work for the CIA, she wrote: “Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Remote viewing has been conceptually replicated across a number of laboratories, by various experimenters, and in different cultures. This is a robust effect that, were it not such an unusual domain, would no longer be questioned by science as a real phenomenon. It is unlikely that methodological flaws could account for its remarkable consistency.”

Jessica Utts: “The results are not due to chance or flaws in the experiments.”

And: at the end of that project I wrote a report to Congress stating what I still think is true. The data in support of precognition and possible other related phenomena is quite strong statistically and would be accepted if it pertained
to something more mundane”.
“Yet, most scientists reject the reality of these abilities without ever looking at the data”

Non-locality
The concept of Non-locality is found within spiritual writings:
The Divine, transcends space and time, so is non-local.
Descriptions of telepathy which is non-local communication.
Descriptions of clairvoyance which is non-local perception.
Non-locality as a concept has been described thousands of years  ago within spiritual writings while it was only postulated in modern academic disciplines in the twentieth century:  

The concept of non-locality can be found in several academic  disciplines:
       In mathematics: The Twistor theory – Roger Penrose
       In psychology: Synchronicity – Carl C. Jung/ Wolfgang Pauli/ F. David
                                    Peat
       In biology:         Morphogenetic fields – Rupert Sheldrake
       In parapsychology: Extra-sensory perception
       In theology:      The concept of omnipresence
       In physics:        Bell’s theorem, Alain Aspect’s 1982 experiment,
                                   David Bohm’s ontological interpretation of Quantum theory
       In philosophy:   Predicate  dualism /pluralism
       In technology:   Entanglement in Quantum computers,
                                    Quantum cryptography

Non-causal phenomena
One finds non-causality within Quantum mechanics and in the occurrence of synchronicity as an acausal connecting principle. Also in multiple independent discoveries and the occurrence of the Axial period.
This kind of connections seems to be based upon a sort of analogy which is fundamentally different from causal connections.  Click here for more details

The blue Pearl 
Within Indian Hindu philosophy one can find descriptions of what is called the Bindu, the blue pearl:
Phenomenology: In a state of spiritual experience the Bindu is actually perceived as a blue pearl, a ball of light 8 millimeter in diameter, (it has been described as “A brilliant blue light, the size of a pea”, which  is 7,5 millimeter diameter) and the colour is a very clear lapis lazuli blue, the same colour as the one of the subtle energy in the sushumna.
Click here for more details

Visions  
(A vision is something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy, especially a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation. Visions generally have more clarity then dreams, but traditionally fewer psychological connotations. Visions are known to emerge from spiritual traditions and could provide a lens into human nature and reality. Prophecy is often associated with visions.) (Wikipedia)    
There are several distinct ontological levels and each of these levels has a different category of visions.  Click here for more details

Telepathy as non-local connection and Quantum non-local connection.
Both are non-local connections but they are on a different ontological level.

Relevance of extra-sensory perception 
Extra-sensory perception transcends space-time because it is non-local
independent of distance and independent of time.
Despite the fact that non-locality is a fundamental part of quantum theory, proven by Bell’s theorem and is used in quantum cryptography, there is still a lot of resistance against the idea of extra-sensory perception. However the results of parapsychological research give strong support for the existence of extra-sensory perception.

Gödel endorses the view that mathematical intuition comes to us through extrasensory perception, as opposed to logic or evidence.

Kurt Gödel was an Austrian, and later American, logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered with Aristotle to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the 20th century.

Furthermore the great classical composers claimed that their compositions where inspired by a transcendent source, which implies extra-sensory communication.
This means that without extra-sensory perception mathematical intuition and with that a great part of science, and the highest forms of art wouldn’t exist.

Miracles
Miracles have been defined as: “A violation of the laws of nature”,
The laws of nature are propositions of natural regularities. Interference is possible if nature is an open system. What is called miracles would be the result of the interaction of higher ontological levels with the physical world.

Life after death
The data from near death experiences , confirms the idea that there is life after death.
Academic research shows that the N.D.E. might be a temporarily state which is identical with the permanent state after death, a conscious state of continuity in which memory, identity and cognition, with emotion function independently from the physical body and retain the possibility of
non-sensory perception.

Non-local resonance
An example of resonance would be the following:
One takes a harp and one pulls one string so that it makes a sound, and one records this sound by electronic equipment.  If one plays  this sound later amplified back, via speakers in front of the harp, then the string that was pulled is going to resonate with the sound that the speakers produce.
This could be a metaphor for many  forms of non-local: synchronicity, extra-sensory perception, the connection of the platonic realm to the physical world and ultimately the relation between the Absolute and the manifest world(s).
As such, this could be an active principle which can operate non-locally.  

Why a physical (re)incarnation?  
Those who underwent an out of the body experience or a near death experience, generally assert that the quality of existence in the higher worlds is considerably better than in the physical world.
Then why does the soul incarnate in a physical body? And why does it reincarnate?

From a materialistic point of view there isn’t a question, mental activity is just seen as activity from the brain so then there isn’t incarnation.

From a traditional point of view the soul was created with the birth of the physical body, so this excludes a personal conscious decision. 

Plato thought that the physical body was the prison of the soul.
Buddha central idea was that humans should break themselves free of the cycle of reincarnation.

So if the soul (psyche) or reincarnating principle existed long before the physical body, then why did it incarnate?
Is there a deeper reason beyond Buddhist and the Platonic noble escapism?

With the connection of the soul to the physical body, the soul has the possibility to develop a number of qualities it otherwise couldn’t develop.
This includes several growth processes: aesthetic, cognitive, social, moral and spiritual. Also willpower, self-control, compassion and so on.
While these developments were possible to a certain degree on a higher ontological level, many of them were not or in a lower degree.
The corresponding developmental lines are represented in several individual development sequences.   Click here for more details

Further, because of the ideoplastic nature of the higher worlds and the effortless being on these levels of existence, some mental qualities cannot be developed there, as they can be developed in the physical world, where the resistance of the environment against mental influence is much greater. (This resistance is connected with compactification, Click here for more details) The most important consequence of the process of physical reincarnation is the compactification of the non-physical subtle energies of which the soul is composed.
After a number of incarnations these non-physical subtle energies, because of this compactification,  can reach the highest ontological l evel and develop subtle energies there. A development which without a number of incarnations, would be impossible.

While these developments were to a certain degree possible on a higher ontological level, many of them not or in a lower degree. 
These developmental lines are represented in several individual development sequences.
Click here for more details

Further, because of the ideoplastic nature of the higher worlds and the effortless being on these levels of existence, some mental qualities cannot be developed there, as they can be developed in the physical world, where the resistance of the environment against mental influence is much greater.

Because of the greater resistance of the physical environment against mental influence, this condition will make it possible for the “soul”to develop a great number of positive character traits better such as:
Willpower, perseverance, responsibility, courageousness, generosity, reliability, conscientiousness, commitment to values and goals, dedicated, self-discipline, confidence, dutiful, efficient, innovative, methodical, meticulous, organised, purposeful, systematic, tolerant, resilient, accountable, ethical, sincere, adaptable, committed, efficient, punctual, responsible, trustworthy, wise.

The most important consequence of the process of physical reincarnation is the compactification of the non-physical subtle energies of which the soul is composed.
After a number of incarnations these non-physical subtle energies, because of this compactification,  can reach the highest ontological level and develop subtle energies there. A development which without a number of incarnations, would be impossible.
(After an individual  reaches the highest ontological level the need for reincarnation is no longer there and the Buddhist and the Platonic view of being free of the cycle of reincarnation is then finally realised).

This points to a process of Kosmic significance:
As human souls develop these subtle energies on the highest ontological level on an individual basis, they initiate together with others who have reached the same development, a collective process which activates an energetic totality, which will generate ontological feedback loops. This all the way down to the physical world.   Click here for more details

This could be the main reason behind the creation of the physical world.

Mystical experiences

Meditation 
When people speak about meditation, they generally speak of some form of active concentration, but meditation is not a form of active concentration, but a passive state. Not a repression of thoughts, but a state of pure awareness.  

Ecstasy (mystical)  
Technical description: Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one’s self or one’s normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling.

Phenomenological description: Ecstasy is the activation of subtle energies on a high ontological level. Ecstasy is the felt experience of those activated subtle energies.

Enlightenment 
The term is used in Western cultures in a religious context, where it is analogue to several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably bodhi, kensho and satori. Related terms from Asian religions are moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, kevala jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism.

Equivalent terms in Christianity may be illumination, kenosis, metanoia, revelation, salvation and conversion.

It is a state that follows Nirvana.

Nature mysticism 
The loss of personal identity, or, put another way, the identification of the self with Nature as a whole, is the thought that finds particular expression in nature mysticism. The nature mystic that they and Nature are one.

The identity of the nature-mystic expands as it were into nature, so that what is asserted is that the distinction between the individual and nature is lost. the two become one (or what is discovered is that what appeared to be two are have really been one all along).

“At times I feel as if I am spread out over the landscape and inside things and am myself living in every tree, in the splashing of the waves, in the clouds and animals that come and go, in the procession of seasons.” – C.G. Jung.

                 ~ C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Ch. 8

Mystic
A person who is in contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who perceives truths that are beyond the intellect.

Mysticism  
The direct apprehension of a spiritual reality, direct access to the ultimate, not mediated by organisational structures, doctrines and rituals.

Yoga
The prime means to reach moksha is through the practice of yoga is a commonly known generic term for physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines which originated in ancient India. Specifically, yoga is one of the six āstika (“orthodox”) schools of Hindu philosophy. It is based on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Various traditions of yoga are found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.