Zhenbao Jin
Hi Allen, your description of God is very moving and resonating with me. As a lawyer with a PhD in law, I had indeed been trapped in overthinking for many years, until I realized the unescapable need of returning to my body and diving into the more intuitive and mystical dimensions of our life. the process thoughts provide an ideal framework for me to integrate the capacity of analytical thinking and the capacity of intuition so that they can nurture each other.
Hi Tom, I had been once in Berlin and particpated in a regular meeting of Quaker Christian. That’s my first encounter with the Quaker and I find it very interesting, free and undogmatic, very different from the mainstream church as I knew before.Look forward to more communication and discussion.
Hi Rolla, it’s great to know that you are now participating in the management of the Certificate Program. I do think this program should keep growing and become more international and attractive, as an important part of the process movement.
Hi Nicholas, yes, it would be great to meet you when I’m traveling in the US. I just sent you my email address: jinzhenbao@hotmail.com. maybe we could first meet via zoom:)
Hi Nicholas, it would be great to have a talk with you via zoom. you can reach me at jinzhenbao@hotmail.com, so that we could arrange for a time for further discussion.
Hi Rolla, Hi Charles,
Thanks a lot for the information!
Hi Tim, I’ve watched your “Cobb & Friends” talk with Matt Segall on big bang and multiple universes. Although I think I need to watch it again for a better understanding, it is very impressive for me, as I intuit that the big bang theory most probably be wrong. Your analysis from the plasma science sounds to me very persuading and I would like to know more.
For me meditation actually could be another, and irreplaceable approach of cosmological research. As each of us is by ourself at least “part” of the universe, or “matter” with self-consciousness, through practice of meditation in a systematic and continuing way, it’s possible for us to find out what “matter” really is or is about.On this issue, Taoism and Confucianism have some interesting insights that are not much emphasized in Buddhism. According to Taoism and Confucianism, the cosmos, or Tian (天), is not dead matter, but, we could say, “alive”. It’s life-giving, keeps evolving. As a result, myriads of living beings, including plants, animals and finally the human beings come to being. Each of us share the same nature of the Cosmos and thus is capable of continuing evolution as well. I think that’s why Taoism and Confucianism do not care much about afterlife, but fully focuse on the ethical responsibility for a secular life. From the perspective of physics, it seems to me that to explore what life really is, or what cosmos really is from the perspective of physics is only one side of the coin. the other side of the coin has to be revealed through philosophical speculation and meditation. For this purpose meditation constitutes the practical, or experimental test of philosophical speculation, just like in science there is cooperation between experimental work and theoretical work. It would be great to discuss with you further on these issues.
I’m glad that Carolyn has expertise on Chinese literature, and Lu Xun in particular. Lu Xun is a household name in China. it would be interesting to know more about your research on Jung and Lu Xun.
by the way, I’m going to travel in the US for around one month, beginning from San Francisco. I will have a public talk with Matt Segall on my experience with meditation, healing, Taoism, Confucianism and process philosophy at 5 pm, Apr. 19 at California Institute of Integral Studies and attend Wisdom 2.0 in San Francisco from Apr. 27 to 29. After that I fly to Madison and spend around one week at Milwaukee Zen Center. From Madison I plan to fly to Claremont. It would be great to have chance to meet with any of you during my travel. This will be my second time traveling in the US and I’m excited for what I might find and experience.
Hi Nicholas, you indeed have made a long journey to encounter process philosophy. I made a glimplse into your pamphlet, finding it quite interesting and resonating and will find time to finish it.
It’s especially interesting to know the quest of new foundations for economy have led you to research into the neurobiology of consciousness. my interest in consciousness is triggered by my practice of meditation. It seems to me neurobiology is not an approach that leads to a complete or satisfying understanding of consciousness, as consciousness is beyond all the phenomenon that can be captured, measured and analysed by neurobiology or any other areas of science. the ultimate approach to tackle with consciousness, in my opinion, should be philosophy, which deals with the issue of consciousness directly. The problem is, consciousness is not “something” that can be grasped simply through intellectual speculation, but has to be experienced and understood through transformation, that is, the transformation of the consciousness of the “researcher” himself. Therefore there is inevitably a dimension of practice in philosophy, which is often ignored, unfortunately. However, I believe this dimension has already been more revealed in process philosophy, due to its emphasis upon “actual” and “creativity”. On the other hand, the eastern traditions, including Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, are in the very beginning “philosophy” in action and practice, focusing on transformation rather than conceptual speculation.
Me too. Thanks for sharing, especially for me in China. not easy to buy these books. Process philosophy in China is still a very strange term, even for the academics, not to mention the general public. There are some translations of Whitehead’s major works, but translation is usually quite tricky.
High Rolla,
it’s nice to join you in the course again. I have been to Portland some years ago, but mainly staying in Vancouver with my English teacher, who is American and taught Legal English during my master program at China University of Politics and Law. actually she edited together with a friend a book introducing Portland. I hope someday I could further explore Portland.
I’m curious about Organic Marxism, as Marxism is still the official ideology in China, which seems to me quite compatible to Confucianism and process philosophy. But I would like to further explore. If that’s true, it would be much easier to persuade the Communist Party Government in China to bond itself with Confucianism and process philosophy:)
Thank you Sheri for your kind response! I have attended the presentation of Rosemarie Anderson and very much appreciate her way of interpreting Tao Te Ching and Taoism. Indeed, the philosophy of Taoism relates more to the feminine dimension of the cosmos, which is life-giving, supporting and nourishing, while unassuming.
the course of World Religion and Process Philosophy is a great success as it proves that the different great religious and spiritual traditions can find a common framework of metaphysics under which they can exchange their insights about life and cosmos and their difference leads to mutual enrichment instead of contradiction and competititon. I think it’s a very meaningful beginning.
Thank you Charles. Although this force and process of creation and evolution is always there, with the cosmos as well as the human being as their exemplification, to become conscious of this, based on the development of science in different areas, including physics and mathematics, would be a great leap forward.