THE SPIRITUAL MATRIX

MAPPING SPIRITUAL TRANSCENDENCE

BYPILGRIM SIMON
(ROBERT LAYNTON)

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COPYRIGHT ROBERT LAYNTON 2012

CONTENTS
Part One: Questionnaire
Part Two: The Theory
Part Three: Questionnaire results analysis

PART ONE: THE QUESTIONNAIRE

This is a questionnaire that reflects the level of your spiritual transcendence in terms
of your world-view and behaviour and also places your spiritual profile on a matrixlike map of spirituality. The spiritual landscape is sometimes a bewildering and
confusing one such that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where one is situated. This
questionnaire will help to orientate you in this landscape.
PREPARATION
I do not want to say too much about the content of the questions at this point, until
you have had the chance to complete the project. But I need to clarify one important
issue: For the purposes of this questionnaire I differentiate between the idea of soul
and spirit in the following way: A soul is an incorporeal or non-material aspect that is
inherent in the nature of some thing, animal or human and which also has a
personality. A spirit on the other hand is an incorporeal or non-material being that has
a personality but which has an existence that is independent of any physical creature
or object. This important distinction needs to be borne in mind as you score the
statements in the questionnaire.
You will need a pen and piece of paper for this task. There are 72 statements listed
below and you must rate each one in terms of how much you agree or disagree with it
using the following scale:
-5 Totally, Absolutely or very strongly disagree
-3 Disagree
-1 Slightly or mildly disagree
0 Neither agree nor disagree OR do not understand the statement.
+ 1 Slightly or mildly agree
+ 3 Agree
+ 5 Totally, Absolutely or very strongly agree
Please read each statement below carefully some of them are fairly complex in
concept and most of them unite a couple of ideas together in the one statement. To
strongly agree with the statement, you have to agree to all the aspects of the
statement, not just part of it. But do not spend too much time on pondering your
answer once you understand the content of the statement. Just go with your first
instinctive feeling. Some statements are also quite obscure and may seem strange if
you really do not understand the statement, then score it as zero. For the moment do
not concern yourself with the codes at the end of each question, or try to anticipate
what they mean. They will be used later in assessing the results. You just need to note
which rating goes with which question number. So ideally, write numbers 1 72 on
your paper leaving a space by each for your rating score. Or if you are working on a
paper print out, write your rating by each statement.
When you are ready you can begin the project.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Please rate each of these statements in terms of how much you agree or disagree with
them using the rating scale outlined above.

1) All people, regardless of how they behave, will finally cease to exist as individuals
and return to One Undifferentiated Spirit, like a drop of ocean spray returning to the
sea. E5
2) In the end, I just return to dust like everything else. A5
3) By adopting certain behaviours and rituals I (or some specially trained or sensitive
people) can gain a command of hidden and obscure forces in the universe. PrS3
4) By stilling the mind and focussing within, (some) people can communicate with
spirit-beings in order to get guidance and help. Cii4
5) Every person, animal and object in nature has a soul animals, birds, trees,
waterfalls, mountains everything. Bii2
6) Everything in nature, whether it is alive or not, has a soul - therefore I need to
behave ethically and respectfully with regard to my environment, monitoring my
behaviour and taking care to behave well. Bii3
7) Everything in the natural world is an expression and manifestation of God who at
the same time is also transcendent and above it. Div2
8) Everything is an expression of One Inherent Primary Soul that is inherent in the
nature of the universe; therefore I should take care to behave in a respectful and right
way. Biii3
9) Spirituality is just a theoretical construct and spiritual experiences can be
understood purely in biological and physiological terms such as brainwave patterns
and altered modes of consciousness. A6
10) God is not distantly transcendent but is expressed and revealed in all that exists
creating an essential Unity in the separate parts of the Universe. Diii5
11) God is expressed in all things and yet at the same time is also Transcendent of all
things and is therefore the Unifier of all that is. Div5
12) God is not distant and above us the things of nature are a manifestation and
expression of God. Diii2
13) God is not remote and distant in any way, but revealed and present in all things,
including me, and thus is a Source of Wisdom and Light within me. Diii4

14) There are many gods and goddesses and they all serve to unite the world in
harmony. Di5
15) I am beginning to think seriously about the possibility of the real existence of a
whole panoply of spirit-beings angels, demons, nature spirits and so on. Cii1
16) I am beginning to think that there may be some truth in the idea that there are lots
of deities or gods and goddesses. Di1
17) There is a unifying field or energy or force that unites and underpins the whole
universe, though scientific research has not found it yet. PrS5
18) I am starting the seriously think that there is just one God. Dii1
19) There is no spiritual being that I have to face after death so I do not need to
change or monitor my behaviour because of such a false idea. A3
20) I feel an inner affinity with some of the gods and goddesses that govern the world
such that they sometimes give me insight into how the world really is. Di4
21) I am beginning to consider that I have (or am) a soul that forms an essential part
of my human nature and that will survive my physical death and I am beginning to
consider the implications of this. Bi1
22) I have an essential unity or oneness with all that exists because all that exists
springs from One Primary Soul that makes up its inherent nature. Biii5
23) I have to appease and obey the various ruling gods and goddesses and make sure
that my behaviour is worthy of them. Di3
24) I listen to the inner voice of the One Primary Soul that is inherent in all that exists.
Biii4
25) I must follow certain routines or rituals in order to keep mischievous imps and
spirits at bay and thus avoid minor accidents and misfortune. Ci3
26) If people deal with spirits they have to behave in a way that does not anger the
spirit and bring misfortune, but deal with spirits in a way that gains their approval,
bringing success and happiness. Cii3
27) I have started to think about the real possibility of there being house-sprites,
familiar spirits or fairy-folk. Ci1
28) I have begun to consider the idea that the earth, perhaps even the whole universe,
has a Soul as an inherent aspect of its nature. Biii1
29) I want to start to explore idea that the hidden sciences, such as alchemy,
clairvoyance and astrology, contain important truths about hidden forces and powers
in the material world. PrS1

30) If I would find God I need to get rid of God. Dii6

31) Everything is a manifestation of God, who in Essence is also transcendent of all;
therefore I am beginning to change my behaviour in order to become who I really am
a manifestation of Transcendent Spirit. Div3
32) In the end, I need to forsake my acceptance of gods and goddesses in order to
unite with Transcendent Spirit. Di6
33) Inherent in all that exists is One Primary Soul that is the foundation of everything.
Biii2
34) Ultimately, I may be embraced by the one God but I can never become one with
God by becoming the same as God. Dii5
35) It is important to be eco-friendly and respect our environment because God is not
in heaven rather, everything in the world is an expression of God. Diii3
36) It is possible for a sprite, elf or similar spirit-being to enter my body and give me
instructions, insight and advice from within, or even to cause me to act in an
uncharacteristic way. Ci4
37) Ultimately, there is no difference between me and other people, animals or
objects, because everything is essentially one soul. Biii6
38) My soul and the souls of animals, birds, trees, water and fire Ultimately lose their
distinction and separateness. Bii6
39) There is One God - the Creator and Lord of all the earth. Dii2
40) My soul can connect with the souls of other people, trees or animals and thus gain
insightful knowledge of them. Bii4
41) I am beginning to think that only matter is real spirituality is probably a fable or
myth A1
42) Since everything is simultaneously both Infinite Spirit and a finite expression of
Spirit, as such a finite expression of Spirit myself, I seek to emulate my True Nature
as Absolute Spirit and try to avoid divisive or disharmonious behaviour. E3
43) My soul is an inner source of light, peace and harmony. Bi4
44) Since in my True Nature I am God Who is in Essence Transcendent of all, there is
in me, even as a finite being, an inner Source of Infinite Light and Wisdom. Div4
45) Since my Essence is no different from Absolute Spirit, I am my own Source of
Infinite Wisdom. E4
46) In the end, my soul will join the vast company of other souls to remain with them
for all eternity. Bi5

47) Spirits affect natural forces in this world there are storm spirits, sea spirits, tree
spirits and so on some good, some mischievous - all of them active in the world
around us. Cii2
48) Conventional views of spirituality are just mental projections and theories.
Though Spirit is manifest as all things yet God is not this, not that. E6
49) Sprites, goblins, elves and fairies and other spirit-beings are not real, they are
aspects and metaphors of the One Unknowable Undifferentiated Spirit. Ci6
50) The fact that everything has a soul means that in the end, the souls of animals,
plants and objects will continue to exist forever in a spirit-universe. Bii5
51) The fact that I have (or am) a soul inherent in my nature, distinguishes me from
other aspects of and creatures in the universe. Bi2
52) The forces and energies that underpin the universe can never be known,
conceptualised or understood. PrS6
53) The future state of my soul after my physical death is dependent on how I live my
life now. Bi3
54) The idea that animals, birds and other creatures have souls is something that I am
beginning to consider. Bii1
55) The idea that God is both in all things and simultaneously Transcendent of all
things is an idea that I am starting to explore. Div1
56) The natural world has no hidden spiritual aspect it is purely physical. A2
57) Though God is expressed in all that is and is simultaneously Transcendent of all
that is, the Universe can only point to That which cannot be known or conceptualised.
Div6
58) The Spirit of the one God resides in me as the still small voice. Dii4
59) The idea that God, spirits and souls in the way that we usually understand them,
do not exist and the Unknowability of Transcendent Formless Spirit is something I am
starting to explore more deeply. E1
60) There are a number of different gods and goddesses ruling different spheres of
nature one rules the sky, another the sea and so on. Di2
61) Ultimately, my soul will merge with everything else into one undifferentiated
Essence. Bi6
62) There are energies, fields and forces in nature that make the universe highly
connected and unified. In this way, the time and place of my birth and the position of
the planets affect my destiny. PrS2

63) There are some people who have heightened sensitivity to hidden energy fields
and forces in nature whereby they gain insights, wisdom and even prophetic abilities.
PrS4
64) There is a host of angels and spirits waiting to help unite us all in peace and
harmony. Cii5
65) I am going to explore the idea that God is not transcendently distant but rather,
close and present or manifest in all that exists. Diii1
66) Sprites, elves and fairies all work together with humans and animals to bring
harmony. Ci5
67) There is only one God, who has instructed us to live pure lives and given laws that
we should obey. We will have to stand before the one God Who is our Judge. Dii3
68) Though God is expressed and manifest in all things, yet no one thing, nor all the
things taken together, is God. Diii6
69) The natural world is a delimited finite material expression of Infinite Formless
Spirit which is its Unknowable True Essence. E2
70) Ultimately angels are rendered useless and non-existent in the light of One
Formless Spirit. Cii6
71) There are certain places waterfalls, groves of trees, forests where sprites, elves
or even mischievous hobgoblins are present. Ci2
72) My culturally learned values of right and wrong are my only inner guide. A4

PART TWO: THE THEORY

INTRODUCTION
In this essay I am going to look at spirituality and most particularly at creating a
classification map or orientation system with regard to spirituality that we can use to
help determine our place in the spiritual landscape. As part of this, we can note that
spirituality is often described in terms of growth or ascent. Thus for example, John of
Ruysbroeck insisted that people find God in their own depth and noted stages of
progress in what he called the spiritual ladder. Saint John Klimakos was asked to
write a spiritual guide and composed 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent' which likens
spiritual life to the ladder seen by the Hebrew Patriarch Jacob, extending from earth to
heaven. These kinds of ideas are quite common in spirituality and this in turn suggests
some sort of hierarchy of development, adeptness or attainment within the sphere of
spirituality. These different levels or stages often arise from a different perspective
and engender a different disciplined practice in comparison to each other. I do not
want to explore this just yet, but I just want to establish that the idea of levels of
attainment, or enlightenment or awakening arranged in some sort of hierarchical order
is a common theme in spirituality and that the higher levels are often reserved for
adepts for those who through long diligence and practice, have worked through the
lower levels to the higher stages. The idea of hierarchy is sometimes unpopular today
but we see it all around us. We see it in nature as well as in business and commerce or
the professions such as the medical profession and so on: a young person does not
walk into a corporation or a hospital and become chief accountant, or managing
director or head surgeon. Rather, they go through school and then college and then
university, specialising in an area of study and in gaining knowledge and experience.
Then, if they gain employment, they progress through the ranks of the company
such as being a worker, then a supervisor, then a manager and so on. Or the student
goes from school to medical college and then becomes a junior doctor in a hospital,
gaining experience and knowledge and eventually, if he or she is suitable, they
progress upwards in the ranks of doctors, consultants, surgeons and so on. This is the
general rule and it is the same in spirituality: the spiritual seeker gains knowledge,
insight and experience and progresses through various stages. If they are affiliated to
some sort of religious order, then they may progress through the ranks of the religious
organisation or institution, from layperson, to deacon, to lay preacher, to minister, to
bishop and so on. Just as an ambitious worker may climb the corporate ladder of
success, so the spiritual seeker may climb the ladder of spiritual ascent.
However, when we look around us, there is such a range of activities, beliefs,
religions and practices that are labelled as spiritual. How can we make any sense of
them? That is the purpose of this essay to make sense of them so that we can
classify and then orientate ourselves in this diverse spiritual landscape. A popular
modern spiritual map that has been around for the last couple of decades is that drawn
up by transpersonal thinker Ken Wilber. Basically, Wilber extended the typical stagemodel theories used in psychology and produced a four-quadrant multi-level or multi
stage map that included individual and collective subjective and objective facets of
existence. The map that is being proposed in this essay is not a replacement for
Wilber's excellent work. In fact, the map being presented here is mainly focussed on
only one of the quadrants in Wilber's scheme - the individual subjective aspect of

spirituality. Wilber's model suggests that we have a series of quasi-independent lines

or aspects of personal development such as linguistic, mathematical, artistic, moral
and spiritual lines that progress through a fixed order of hierarchical or holarchical
stages or levels of development. The map that I am going to present here will suggest
something similar, but there are also a number of differences. Firstly, the map being
presented here is only interested in spiritual development, though I recognise that
other lines or aspects of our personhood, such as our moral development, are not
totally independent or detached from our spiritual development. These lines and
aspects partially affect one another and the influence between them is multi
directional spirituality may affect morality and vice-versa. Nevertheless, the main
focus here is on spiritual development. Secondly, Wilber's scheme insists on a
progression through a fixed sequence of stages. Wilber acknowledges that we may
regress or move backwards down to more comforting and familiar earlier levels as a
result of some crisis of belief or difficult experience, but he insists that we cannot skip
or miss out on a stage as we progress through the stages of our personal development.
The map that I am presenting here is more flexible than this. There is indeed a low
position at the bottom of the spiritual hierarchy of levels and so there is also,
correspondingly, a high position or set of positions at the top of the spiritual hierarchy
of attainment or awakening. But the route from one to the other is not fixed in a
straight line. The map that I am presenting is more like a building with a number of
floor levels. We may enter by means of a number of ground floor entrances and we
have the opportunity to choose as it were, one of a number of stairways, some of
which go to the very top floor and some of which ascend only part way up the
building. So different people find the top floor by different routes.

DEFINING TERMS
So we need to begin our task of creating a spiritual classification map and in order to
do this, we need to start to define our terms so that we have an agreed foundation for
this metaphorical building. The definitions that I am going to give are not absolute, or
the only definitions of some of these terms, but they are the ones that I am using for
this essay, so that we have a common understanding of what I am referring to when I
use certain terms. And the first term that needs to be defined here is 'spiritual' and its
derivative word, 'spirituality'.

SPIRIT AND SPIRITUALITY

For the purposes of this essay I am concerned with the word 'spirit', because we are
dealing with spirituality, the spiritual path, spiritual growth, spiritual orientation and
our relationship to spirit. The English word spirit (from the Latin spiritus 'breath') has
many differing meanings and connotations, but most of them relate to a non-corporeal
aspect that stands in contrast to material existents. I will use the word 'spirit' in both a
general and a particular way in this essay. In general terms, 'spirit' and its derivatives
'spiritual' and 'spirituality' will be referring to this non-corporeal or incorporeal or
non-material realm. For it's more particular meaning in this essay, by 'spirit', I will be
referring to any incorporeal or non-material being, such as angels, demons, fairies,
deities and so on that exist in their own right, rather than being an inherent aspect of
human nature or the nature of animals or objects. These incorporeal beings are

perceived or believed to have (rightly or wrongly) a real, objective existence as

opposed to just being a fantasy of the imagination or mental construct and are always
seen as possessing some sort of personhood a spirit-being has agency, choice,
motives, emotions, attributes and personality. It is this quality of personhood that
distinguishes spirits from mere forces, fields or energies. If we talk for example about
energy centres in the body, such as Chakra systems, then we are not talking about
spirits. Unfortunately, to confuse the issue, these energy systems may be envisioned
in personal terms thus kundalini energy may be envisioned either as a goddess or
else as a sleeping serpent, but fundamentally, they are impersonal energy systems and
therefore not spirits. It is this quality of independent existence that distinguishes them
from 'souls' on the one hand and on the other hand it is the non-deification of such
entities that distinguishes them from gods and goddesses.
By the word 'spirit' then, I do not mean some impersonal force or energy that is as yet
undiscovered by scientific means. As I have indicated, personhood is an essential
aspect of 'spirit'. Impersonal forces belong to the domain of science, a category of that
will be extended for the purposes of this essay to include the related categories of
proto-science those early, primitive disciplines from which modern science
emerged; as well as psuedo-science disciplines that are not genuine science, because
they either fall short of having the criteria required by science as a discipline, or
because they contain deceitful elements or pretence, even though they have the
appearance of being scientific disciplines. Neither do I mean by the word 'spirit' some
sort of psychological or emotional state or attitude, (such as having a spirit of
bravery). Nor do I mean by 'spirit' some sort of metaphorical symbol, where 'spirit' is
understood as some sort of archetype or universally understood symbol used as an aid
for transformation or personal growth. All of these fall outside of the definition of
'spirit' used in this essay and thus they are pseudo-spiritual in the sense that they are
material or psychological theories and explanations put forward in a spiritual and/or
religious guise.
However we need to consider the use of metaphors in spirituality a little further. A
metaphor is something that stands between something that is known and something
that is unknown a metaphor uses known objects, types or symbols to point to
something that is not or cannot be known in itself. When dealing with metaphors in
spirituality then, we have to ask 'What is it that is being pointed to?', because it is the
answer to this question that determines whether we are dealing with spirituality at all,
and if we are, what category spirituality is being referred to. Thus, we may have the
metaphor of a voluptuous woman being used in a spiritual context but what is it
considered that this points to? Does it point to a force or energy; or does it point to a
spiritual being such as an angel; or does it represent one of a number of deities, such
as the Goddess Venus; or does it point to feminine aspects of a single deity in the
same way that 'Father' points to masculine aspects of the God of Christianity? It is that
which the metaphor points to that helps us determine the correct category in this map.
In fact, this raises a further question: we may use the word 'Judge' to describe an
aspect of a single deity but is this a metaphor or does this deity intrinsically possess
the moral attribute of being a Judge? In other words does God have inherent qualities
and characteristics or does God transcend them? This is a question that we will return
to later.

To summarise then, in general terms, 'spirit' and 'spirituality' refers to the realm of
non-material and in its more narrow and particular use, 'spirit' refers to incorporeal or
immaterial beings, such as angels, demons, fairies, deities and so on that objectively
exist in their own right and which are seen as possessing personhood.

SOUL
The notion of 'spirit' often overlaps with the idea of 'soul', since both 'spirit' and 'soul'
are placed in contrast with a person's physical or material body. For the purposes of
this essay, I will distinguish between 'spirit' and 'soul' by regarding a 'spirit' as being a
distinct incorporeal being existing in it's own right, whereas by the word 'soul' I mean
some incorporeal aspect or element of the material or physical nature of something
and inherent to it. A 'soul' is not an incorporeal being in it's own right, but an
incorporeal aspect or essence of some thing. Souls may be seen as inherent only in
human nature by some, but by others may extend to animals, birds, plants or objects.
The soul may be understood as surviving the death of the body in some religions and
in some facets of occultism, in the case of a person, this disembodied incorporeal
'soul' is often thought of in the sense of being a 'ghost', which is simply a
manifestation of the incorporeal soul of a deceased person. So if I refer to necromancy
or contact with the souls of the dead, then I will use the word 'soul' in the sense of
being some incorporeal element of our human nature that continues to exist after the
death of the physical body. This disembodied element of human nature is believed to
have a real, objective existence and retains the essential personhood of the deceased
person, having agency, choice, motives, emotions, attributes and personality.
Despite this difference between 'spirit' and 'soul' a difference that will be maintained
throughout this essay - the realm of the soul will still come under our general theme of
spirituality. This means that we can have a spirituality that does not accept the idea of
any sort of gods or goddesses and neither does it accept the possibility of spirit beings
existing in their own right. The only understanding of spirituality that it would have
would be in terms of disembodied souls perhaps just of humans but it may also
include the idea of the disembodied souls of animals and birds or objects. Putting it
another way, the idea of 'souls' is a restricted sub-category within the broad scope of
spirituality.

THEISM AND DEISM

I now need to consider another couple of words: 'theism' and 'deism'. Many of the
categories that I am going to consider in this essay incorporate this word theism
atheism, pantheism, polytheism and so on. So we need to consider the meaning and
extent and scope of this root word 'theism' and the closely related word, 'deism'.
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity or god exists. The
words 'deism' and 'theism' are both derived from words for god: the former from Latin
'deus', the latter from its Greek cognate 'thes'. Prior to the 17th century the terms
'deism' and 'deist' were used interchangeably with the terms 'theism' and 'theist,'
respectively.

But then, theologians and philosophers of the seventeenth century began to give a
different meaning to the words. Both theism/theists and deism/deists began to refer to
a more narrow belief in one supreme God, the Creator, (as opposed to a group of
gods/goddesses) and within this more narrow monotheism, they also agree that this
one God is personal and distinct from the world. But the theist taught that God
remained actively interested in and operative in the world which he had made,
whereas the deist maintained that God endowed the world at creation with selfsustaining and self-acting powers and then abandoned it to the operation of these
powers which act as second causes.
For the purposes of this essay, I am returning to the older view where 'Theism' and
'Deism' are allocated into the same category since they both, at their foundation,
express a belief in and relation to at least one personal incorporeal spirit-deity. In
using these terms I am also taking a wider scope than monotheism or an acceptance
that there is just one divine being. Rather, by theism/deism, I mean someone who
accepts a spiritual view that includes one or more gods or goddesses. This is in
contrast or addition to a belief in non-deified souls and/or spirits as defined earlier.
If we need to make a distinction, between deism and theism, deism is a particular
form of theism that differs in its method and scope of inquiry, as we shall see later.

GODS, GODDESSES AND DEITIES

So what do we mean by 'deity'? We need to distinguish between 'spirit' on the one
hand and 'god' or 'goddess' on the other. Spirits, gods and goddesses are all conceived
as personal incorporeal spirit-beings that have objective, real existence. The panoply
of spirit-beings may be understood by some as existing in ranks and orders, in terms
of having more or less powers, greater or smaller domains of influence, more or less
wisdom or as having a moral dimension that ranges from moral purity or holiness, to
being full of guile, mischief and deceit. From such an array of personal spirit-beings,
there may emerge some spirits, or even one single spirit that is conceived of as being
an omnipotent creator or originator and/or ruler and controller of a particular domain
such as the weather, or the sea, or the moon or an omnipotent creator, originator
and/or ruler or controller over the whole universe. Such a spirit or spirits have
transcendent powers powers above and beyond nature which they control. Such an
incorporeal spirit-being or beings may then become a principal 'object' of belief and
trust. Reverent honour, love and devotion is often given to such a spirit-being or
beings, which is expressed in prayers, rituals and ceremonies. Such a spirit-being or
beings may be considered as immortal. It is this type of superior, ruling, often
immortal personal spirit-being or beings that are in effect deified, or accorded the
status of god or goddess, distinguishing them from any lesser personal spirit-beings.
Thus in Christianity, the devil or angels are portrayed as powerful personal spiritbeings, but they are not considered as gods.

DEITIES AND SPIRITUALITY

However, in this essay, I am not just interested in deities, goddesses and gods, but in
spirituality. Using the definition of 'spirit' and 'spirituality' that I have described

above, we can see that there is a sphere or domain of spirituality that exists outside of
theism that there may a belief in or acceptance of the existence of personal
incorporeal spirit-beings without necessarily believing in or accepting that these
spirit-beings are gods, goddesses or deities. There is a spirituality that stands on the
outside of theism/deism or the belief in and acceptance of the existence of at least one
god or deity. Putting it another way, theism/deism is a restricted sub-category within
the broad scope of spirituality.

RELIGION EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC

Finally, in this initial consideration of words and concepts, we need to consider the
concept of religion. 'Religion' can be defined as a collection of cultural systems, belief
systems, worldviews and practices that establish and use symbols that relate humanity
to spirituality and sometimes also to moral values. The word 'religion' comes from the
Latin religionem (nom. religio) 'respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods,'
'obligation, the bond between man and the gods'), but the ultimate origins of the word
are obscure. Religion stands outside of spirituality in the sense that it is an exoteric
system, by which I mean that religion refers to public institutions that deal with
external, even material symbolic aspects of belief and practice for members of the
community, by presenting rituals, laws, codes, ceremonies, creeds, authority
structures, skilled and educated leaders and teachers and so on that all point to the
incorporeal realm of spirit.
In contrast to this is an esoteric path that may exist within a religious context and
which consists of an individual, personal, private, inward approach to spirituality.
Esotericism sometimes has the quality of being exclusive, of being understood only
by a particular group, confidential, private and not publicly disclosed. For these
reasons it often has an uneasy relationship with the wider, exoteric religious
community and may be seen by them as divisive, sectarian, elitist or as forming a
clique like a church within the church for example.
Antoine Faivre defined four essential characteristics of esotericism:
It has a theory of correspondences between all parts of the invisible and the visible
cosmos.
It has the conviction that nature is a living entity owing to a spirit presence.
It recognises the need for mediating elements (such as symbols, rituals, visions) in
order to access spiritual knowledge, and
It believes in an experience of personal and spiritual transmutation when arriving at
this knowledge.
To these, two further characteristics can be added that commonly but not always
attend esoteric approaches:
a) The frequent suggestion that there is a concordance or agreement between different
religious traditions - the best example is the belief in prisca theologia (ancient
theology) or in philosophia perennis (perennial philosophy).
b) It sometimes suggests the idea of a secret transmission of spiritual teachings,
through initiation from master to disciple.

EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS
Having considered and defined some key words and concepts for the purpose of this
essay, we can now move on to consider aspects of spirituality. Some of the concerns
of spirituality are to do with making sense of unknowns, absolutes or ultimates. The
spiritual traveller tends to ask questions about and seeks to give answers to issues
such as:
What is the meaning or purpose of life and the universe?
How did life and the universe originate?
What is the ultimate fate of the universe?
Why do catastrophes happen?
Why does suffering exist?
Why does evil exist?
What, if anything, happens after death?
Where have I come from and where am I going?
Is there a spiritual realm and if so, what is it like and how does it affect us?
How can we make sense of existence?
What is my place and purpose in the universe?
Who and what am I really?
Are we born good, or evil, or like a blank slate?
Will I be brought to account for my behaviour?
The answers given to these questions by a spiritually orientated person are framed in
terms of personal incorporeal spirit-beings who may or may not be gods, goddesses or
deities. Since religion publicly and externally relates us to spirituality, religious
institutions also ask the same questions and religious institutions also frame their
answers in terms of personal incorporeal spirit-beings who may or may not be gods,
goddesses or deities. The ideas, philosophies, theologies and world-views generated
in answering these questions as well as through experience, also tend to derive themes
of morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle.
But seeking answers to these questions is by no means the exclusive provenance of
spirituality and religion. Scientific disciplines such as Astronomy, Geology, Physics,
Chemistry and Biology also find themselves engaged in these sorts of questions at
some time or another. Indeed, as we shall see, many of these disciplines initially arose
out of spiritually orientated proto-science disciplines such as magic, astrology and
alchemy. In the same way, the social sciences such as psychology and sociology also
find themselves concerned with these issues. Psychology is very concerned with
human nature in terms of explaining the thoughts, emotions, behaviours and
development of individual human beings. The sorts of theories that arise within
psychology are based on beliefs and assumptions about human nature and the nature
of existence. But the experts and leading thinkers in these various fields of expertise
may not believe in any sort of god or deity and they may not accept or subscribe to the
real, objective existence of any incorporeal being or beings. Nevertheless, these
thinkers have a legitimate interest in these questions about ultimates. But because they
have no spiritual interest, they frame their answers in a way that does not involve
spiritual explanations. Thus physicists talk in quantum terms about the Higgs-bosun
'god-particle' and so on. These are inevitably materialistic explanations in terms of

blind impersonal energies, forces, fields, particles, quantum mechanics, multiple

dimensions and so on. In the same way, in psychology and the social sciences,
answers are given in terms of biological explanations such as brain wave patterns or
chemical imbalances, such that for example, mystical spiritual experiences are
explained away in terms of biochemical processes because it appears that such
experiences can be simulated through the use of certain drugs. Or these questions may
be answered in terms of subjective cognitive constructs or the arrangement of
subjective mental processes both conscious and unconscious, in terms of drives,
projection and transference, id and ego, archetypes, transformative metaphors and
symbols and so on, which are themselves qualities emerging from the biological
foundation of our brain and body. The questions are the same as those asked within
spiritual and religious approaches, but the answers given are within an a-spritual,
materialistic framework.
Even though materialistic and psychological approaches do not make use of the realm
of spirits, they are nevertheless related to our study of spirit and spirituality because
they negate, omit, ignore or oppose the spiritual realm. Sometimes they come up with
answers that contradict or challenge received spiritual wisdom causing either a
division and polarisation between scientific materialism and spirituality, or causing
adaptations and changes within spiritual perspectives. For example, work on textual
criticism and the development of early Christianity shows that letters attributed to the
Apostle Paul were not in fact written by him and thus the inclusion of such a letter in
the canon of Scripture falls short of the original selection criteria. Other textual
discoveries and historical research show that the old idea that the Bible is inerrant and
the Word of God is an approach that is no longer tenable. So research, discoveries and
approaches outside of spirituality nevertheless have an impact within spirituality.
Thus, in a very general way, non-acceptance of the spiritual is an important category
in relation to spirituality.

CATEGORIES AND HIERARCHIES

This overview of terms and definitions together with some of the other issues that I
have highlighted means that we can begin to introduce some sort of broad
categorisation to the general theme of spirituality. These categories consist of
different ways in which people conceive of and relate to spirit and spirituality. For our
purposes, this is not particularly a set of hierarchical categories that suggest that one
category is superior to or better than another. It might be argued that there is an
increasing complexity, differentiation and sophistication as we progress through these
categories. It is true to say that as we approach these categories, some of the initial
pro-spiritual categories that I will describe tend to be generally associated with socalled 'primitive' or early cultures and that as we move through these categories, the
later pro-spiritual categories tend to arise in more complex modern cultures. So there
may seem to be some sort of progression of complexity here, but even this is open to
question. Also, some of these later approaches to spirituality seem more modern, or
more relevant, which in turn also gives the appearance of a hierarchical order within
these categories. But I think that this hierarchical aspect is something of an illusion.
The way in which groups of people organise themselves - the sort of societal and
cultural structures and arrangements that emerge within a group to enable them to
function in turn affects people's perceptions of spirituality and the organisation and

structure of the religions that relate them to that spirituality. I think that it is safe to
say that modern society has more sophisticated and complex organisations and
structures than do small, nomadic tribal groups or aboriginal native groups and this is
reflected to some degree in different conceptualisations of spirituality and different
religious approaches because they have to meet different types of needs in different
ways. Modern societies are more complex because they are larger, more
interdependent and have more technological advances than older groupings. But
whether these cultural changes and the accompanying changes in the perception of
spirituality constitute a spiritual hierarchy of categories is, as I say, open to question.
We should also remember that one person's progression is another person's regression
those who free themselves from religious and spiritual concerns by adopting an
atheistic perspective may consider themselves to have progressed and matured into a
modern, civilised outlook, but others may consider that such a person has regressed or
fallen into mistaken thinking such that they are missing an essential part of what
reality and humanity is.

FIVE BROAD CATEGORIES

The discussion earlier on defining terms has already highlighted five broad categories
that relate to spirituality. I am not regarding these categories as being related to each
other in any sort of spiritual hierarchical order such that one spiritual category is
better than or superior to another spiritual category. For the moment at least, I am
laying aside any such value judgments and merely presenting them as different. These
five broad categories are:
A-spiritual materialistic realm
The realm of the soul
The realm of spirits
Theism or the realm of deities
Transendantism
In this essay I am going to use the above categories as part of the creation of a
spiritual matrix, so I will now define what I mean by each of them.

A) A-SPIRITUAL MATERIALISTIC REALM

This category covers a general orientation to spirit and spirituality that basically
means 'without spirits' in the general sense of the word 'spirit'. There are many people
who adopt a position whereby the realm of souls and/or spirits and/or gods either does
not enter their world-view or is opposed by their world-view. When we look at this
more closely, we will find three sub-categories within this broad main category.

B) THE REALM OF THE SOUL

The category is the first of the listed categories that accepts an incorporeal or spiritual
realm. This is a pro-spiritual position that has a world-view that accepts to a greater or
lesser extent, the real, objective existence of souls as incorporeal entities. Again, as

we look at this more closely, we will find that there will be a number of subcategories under the umbrella of this broad main category.

C) THE REALM OF SPIRITS

For the purpose of this essay, 'the realm of spirits' is a pro-spiritual position that has a
world-view that accepts to a greater or lesser extent, the existence of spirits as
incorporeal entities existing in their own right, and which are distinct from souls but
which are not deities, gods or goddesses. As we look at this category more closely, we
will find a couple of sub-categories under this broad category.

D) THEISM
This is a pro-spiritual position that has a world-view that accepts that there is at least
one (or more) incorporeal being(s) that are superior enough to meet the criteria of
being deified or called 'god(s)', or 'goddess(es)'. Once again there are a number of subcategories within this group.

E) TRANSCENDANTISM
This final broad category is a pro-spiritual position that has a world-view that accepts
that Spirit is so transcendent as to rise above even the qualities that are attributed to
the spiritual realm.

PROGRESSION ACROSS CATEGORIES

Despite what I have said above about hierarchies, there is nevertheless some sort of
progression or movement across these categories and I suggest that this progression or
movement is one from the mundane to the transcendent. This word 'transcendent' is
another word that I need to define for the purposes of this essay.
TRANSCENDENT
The word 'transcendent' is from the Latin word transcendere - to climb over, from
TRANS- across; on the other side; beyond + scandere to climb. Sometimes it is used
in a similar, general way to the word 'spirit' that is, it is used in contradistinction to
the mundane material realm - in that to see into or enter the transcendent realm is to
pass beyond the limits of the material world or to exist beyond the material realm. It
may include a sense of being independent of the material universe. In spiritual terms,
'transcendent' has a similar meaning to the word 'supernatural'. Like 'transcendent', the
word 'supernatural' can be used in a general sense to refer to or relate to a realm
outside of or beyond the natural, material world. Or, the word 'supernatural' may
relate to events that cannot seem to be explained according to natural laws. Thus the
word 'supernatural' may be attributed to a power or an event that seems to violate or
go beyond natural forces, such as for example, a miracle. Yet again, the word

'supernatural' may be used in reference to the power of a deity a god that stands
outside of or above the powers of nature. In this essay I am only going to use the word
'supernatural' in the more narrow sense of a power that exists outside of or above the
powers of nature most especially in terms of so-called magical powers or miracle
working. In the main however, I am going to refer to spirit, spirituality, transcendence
and the transcendent.
We can see in the roots of this word 'transcendent', the idea of climbing or ascent.
Although I am not advocating a hierarchical structure in these categories, there is
nevertheless a sense of ascent. There is also the sense of going beyond the limits of
something. Each of these categories transcends the limits or boundaries of the
previous category. There is also a sense of moving across, or moving to the side and
this is how I am portraying these categories in this model in a horizontal line from
left to right.
For our purposes, Category A is not transcendent at all it seeks explanations to
existential questions within a purely mundane, natural, materialistic viewpoint and
this form the left axis of the horizontal line of spiritual categories. As soon as we
move to a pro-spiritual viewpoint in category B, we are accepting a realm of existence
beyond the material, physical or natural universe. We may regard this spiritual realm
as being above, beneath, behind or alongside the material universe, but there is a
sense in which it is beyond the universe an incorporeal, largely unseen extension of
the visible material universe. As we progress through categories B, C, and D this
largely invisible extended realm becomes more sophisticated, more differentiated and
more elevated. We move from an inherent spiritual quality in nature to ranks and
orders of spiritual beings existing in their own right and then at least one of these
spirit-beings becomes regarded as immortal creator(s) or prime mover(s) and
controller(s) of the visible material universe. Finally in category E, we end up with a
highly transcendent view so transcendent that it stands above God.
So there is an increasing sense of elevation or transcendence as we move through
these categories. First of all the mundane visible world is all that there is, then we are
elevated outside the mundane visible world into an increasingly sophisticated view of
an unseen spiritual realm until finally, we move to a position where even these forms
and descriptions of the spiritual realm are transcended.

CATEGORISING SPIRITUALITY
As we seek to allocate a spiritual viewpoint or religion within these categories, we
must ask our questions carefully.
Firstly, we must ask what it is that we are categorising. Is it our own spiritual
viewpoint, or our understanding of a particular religion or philosophy? I emphasise
somewhat the subjective element of the perceptions that we always bring to such an
exercise. Despite this subjectivity, we need to be very specific in defining the
spirituality, religion or philosophy that we are exploring. For example, Christianity is
a very broad religion that contains a number of these different categories to different
degrees. But, Roman Catholicism has quite different views from neo-puritan
fundamentalism and both are different from Liberal Christianity. So once again, this

takes us back to the first point above: what is it that we are categorising? We need to
be fairly specific and clear so that we can answer the questions raised unambiguously.
If we are just exploring 'Christianity', we may find contradictory elements and trends
within it that obscure or hinder our categorisation. The more specific and narrow our
theme, the less likely contradictions or the need for qualifications will occur. Once the
particular theme or viewpoint to be explored has been well defined, then we are
concerned with the general thrust, currents and trends within it.
Secondly, it is important to note that these categories are not necessarily mutually
exclusive. The exception to this is category A in relation to all the other categories.
Category A does not accept the existence of a spiritual realm, therefore, if the theme
for exploration falls into this category, it cannot, by definition, accept souls, spirits or
deities. The opposite is also true if the viewpoint being considered accepts souls,
spirits and/or deities then it cannot also be placed in a category that does not accept
these entities. So category A and the group of categories B, C, D, and E are mutually
exclusive. Apart from this, a spirituality, religion or philosophy may, with regard to
spirituality, be simple or compound. That is, it may fit into just one or two categories,
or it may be made up of a number of categories. For example, Fundamentalist
Calvinist Christianity contains categories that cover the realm of souls, the realm of
spirits and theism, but not a-spiritual materialism and little transcendence. In other
words, Fundamentalist Calvinist Christianity is a compound religion made up of at
least three broad categories within spirituality in general: categories B, C and D.
Thirdly, we are concerned with what the viewpoint under consideration acknowledges
rather than what it stands for or against. Christianity acknowledges the existence of
souls but opposes necromancy or mediums that claim to get in touch with them for
guidance. The point is that even in condemning necromancy, the existence of souls is
acknowledged. Christianity acknowledges the existence of spirits but opposes
demons, fallen angels, unclean spirits and devils and practices such as witchcraft.
Once again, the point is that even in opposing unclean spirits and demons, the
existence of spirit-beings is acknowledged. So the form of our questioning is: 'Does
the viewpoint under consideration acknowledge or admit to (category A a universe
without a spiritual dimension, category B the existence of souls, category C the
existence of spirits, category D the existence of a deity or deities, category E
Transcendence of souls, spirits and deities.)
But this simple categorisation is not enough. We need further differentiation if our
categorisation is to have any useful meaning. I have already indicated that within
these main categories, there are sub-categories further distinctions within the broad
category that help us to position a viewpoint with more accuracy and detail. So I shall
now look at each of these broad categories in turn and outline the sub-categories that
they contain. Firstly, lets explore the position of the materialistic realm.

SPIRITUAL CATEGORIES AND SUB-CATEGORIES

Category A THE A-SPIRITUAL MATERIALISTIC REALM
Category A, together with its sub-set of categories, takes a negative view of
spirituality. These approaches are not pro-spiritual or supportive and positive towards

spirituality but rather adopt a position that views existence without spirit(s) taking an
a-spiritual perspective. This is also the broad category in which we find materialism the theory that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including
thought, feeling, mind and will, can ultimately be explained in terms of matter and
physical phenomena a view that has often formed the assumptions behind science
and the scientific method. Science looks at objective material reality. This includes
looking at unseen but nevertheless real measurable forces and influences such as
gravity or magnetic fields. Scientists form hypotheses or theories and then seek to test
and replicate or repeat any results obtained so that verifications and predictions can be
made. Sometimes, these hypotheses are very speculative: existing theories do not
explain how the universe holds together so something must be holding it together but
we cannot find it or detect it as yet so scientists call it 'dark matter'. This sort of
speculative working hypothesis is held in mind as a working hypothesis until it is
either proved, disproved or a better hypothesis is suggested. For the purposes of this
essay, any perspective that suggests hidden impersonal forces or connections between
objects as opposed to the activity of personal souls, spirit-beings or deities even
though it may be being suggested in a pseudo spiritual or religious context properly
belongs to this category. But I will look in more detail at science later in this essay.
It is debateable which of the sub-categories within category A should come first one
of opposition or one of indifference. In the end I have selected the attitude of
indifference as coming first because it is not moved by spirituality, rather it is as it
were, dead to spirituality, whereas an attitude of opposition to spirituality is at least
engaged in and moved by spirituality, even if that that engagement and movement is
negative.
Although those adopting an a-spiritual materialistic perspective have adopted secular
philosophies, there is no one ideology or group of behaviours to which all people in
this group adhere. In Western culture, those adopting an a-spiritual materialistic
viewpoint are usually irreligious. It would be reasonable for those with an a-spiritual
materialistic view to adopt one of the positions outlines below:
Secularism: This is the principle of separating government institutions and the persons
mandated to represent the State away from religious institutions and religious
dignitaries, such that they are separate and distinct. Secularism tends to assert the
right to be free from religious rule and teachings and/or the right to freedom from any
governmental imposition of religion upon the people within a State that is considered
by secularists as neutral on matters of spirituality. It is questionable however whether
such a position of neutrality with regard to spirituality is in fact possible. There is a
sense in which if you are not for a position then you are against it.
Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism (often with a capital H to
distinguish it from other forms of humanism): This is a secular philosophy that
embraces human reason, ethics, justice and the search for human fulfilment. It
specifically rejects spirituality, religious dogma, supernaturalism, transcendent
realms, pseudoscience or superstition as any sort of basis for morality and decisionmaking.
We are interested in a-spiritual materialism in relation to the position it adopts to the
spiritual realm and we can create three sub-categories i) spiritual apathy, ii) core a-

spiritual materialism and iii) anti-spirituality. I will now look at each of these briefly
in turn.

Ai - SPIRITUAL APATHY
This is a lack of interest in and disregard for spirituality generally and includes a
disregard and lack of interest towards souls, spirits, deities, gods, goddesses or God.
In relation to deities, it is a position known as Apatheism - a combination of apathy
and theism. A person who adopts a position of spiritual apathy is someone who is not
interested in accepting or denying any claims that souls, spirits, gods or goddesses
exist or do not exist. They consider such questions as neither meaningful nor relevant
to his or her life.
The eighteenth century French philosopher Denis Diderot, when accused of being an
atheist, corrected this view and replied that he simply did not care whether God
existed or not. In response to Voltaire, he wrote: 'It is very important not to mistake
hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.' Spiritual apathy then,
shows a disinclination to care all that much about one's own spirituality or religion
and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people's.
Its advocates may justify this spiritual apathy by using one or more of the reasons
listed below:
a) An absence of religious motivation
This argument states that morals are present in human society and do not rely on
religion or spirituality to be a part of the human experience. The existence or nonexistence of souls, spirits, gods, goddesses or God has no effect on the actions of
humans and may actually cause human suffering rather than benefit humanity. Those
adopting a position of spiritual apathy recognize that religion and spirituality may
provide a 'comfort' for many people around the world, but they themselves do not
need religion or a belief in spirituality to be content with their lives or their morality
and therefore they live without it and see it as irrelevant.
b) Indifference
Indifference is the belief that all religions and views of spirituality are equal in value
so why waste time arguing about them or even discussing them. Immanuel Kant
popularised this in his work 'Critique of Pure Reason', where he argued that
indifference represents an extreme form of scepticism that argues that there is no
rational ground for accepting any philosophical position of any kind. According to the
Catholic Church, this type of absolute indifferentism results in a willingness to
concede to any position and it is often associated with moral relativism.
c) Lack of evidence
This argument takes a more scientific perspective by criticizing blind faith: a faith
without sufficient logical evidence to support it. When looking at theism or a belief in
a deity or deities, it argues that if the deity or deities wanted people to believe in

him/her/them, he/she/they could demonstrate his/her/their existence with miracles and

explain his/her/their plan for humanity. Being all-powerful, he/she/they could send a
divine sign if he/she/they truly wanted humans to believe. Since he/she/they does not
seem to care if humans believe or not, then those adopting spiritual apathy will not
care until the deity/deities show them a reason to. This argument presented here with
regard to a theistic viewpoint can of course be extended to spirituality in general.
Rousseau declared: 'Since the existence of God [and for our purposes, souls, spirits
and deities as well], can never be proven, nor can it be disproven, I won't waste my
time asking questions to which there are no answers.' The attitude of a person
adopting a position of spiritual apathy is one of don't care, not bothered, not
interested, it is a waste of time, irrelevant, unimportant and pointless. Spiritual apathy
is a quite common perspective in a present day western European country like Britain.
The traditional cultural spiritual view of Christianity is in decline, but it is not being
replaced by any major spiritual alternative amongst the indigenous people. The old
Christian spirituality is often seen as outdated, backward, out of touch and irrelevant
in a modern scientific age. Many people who are apathetic to spirituality would
describe themselves as atheists but an approach that is apathetic to spirituality is
something slightly different from atheistic approach, as we shall see below.
If we wanted to be really specific we could create yet another layer of sub-categories
within this one that would refer specifically to world-views that are apathetic to souls,
[A1a] or apathetic to spirits, [A1b] or apathetic to deities [A1c].

Aii CORE A-SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM

Core A-spiritual materialism is a disbelief in the existence of souls, spirits and deities
and basically means 'without spirit(s) or incorporeal beings'. However, it is not
indifferent to spirituality like the spiritual apathetic approach described previously.
People adopting an a-spiritual materialistic position do care about spirituality they
engage with spirituality by considering reasons, evidences and supports for it, but in
conclusion, they reject it. Having considered the viability of accepting spirituality,
they come to the conclusion for one reason or another that belief in such spirits is not
warranted, citing a lack of empirical evidence for such claims. Various philosophical,
social and historical rationales for an a-spiritual materialistic position have been put
forward. These include:
With regard to an omnipotent deity, there is the problem of the existence of evil in the
light of such a supposed all-powerful morally pure God, and the problem of
inconsistencies and contradictions within claimed revelations by and/or concerning
spirit(s).
Some argue that the burden of proof with regards to the spiritual realm does not lie on
the person holding an a-spiritual materialistic view such that they have to disprove the
existence of God, but rather, the burden lies on the person accepting spirituality or
some aspect of it to provide a rationale and proof for the existence of such a realm.
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.

The sub-category of core a-spiritual materialism includes 'Atheism' which is a more

specific disbelief in the existence of God or gods or goddesses. This is in contrast with
'theism', which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. The
term 'atheism' originated from the Greek (atheos), meaning 'without god' and this was
a term that was applied with a negative connotation to those who rejected the gods
that were worshipped by society at large. Later, with the spread of free thought,
sceptical inquiry and the subsequent increase in the criticism of religion and
spirituality, the application of the term 'atheist' narrowed in scope to refer to those
who did not believe in the Christian monotheistic God. It was in the 18th century
when individuals first began to identify themselves as 'atheist'. Since conceptions of
atheism vary, determining how many atheists exist in the world today is no easy task.
According to one estimate, about 2.3% of the world's population are atheists, while a
further 11.9% are nonreligious. According to another, rates of self-reported atheism
are among the highest in Western nations, again to varying degrees: United States
(4%), Italy (7%), Spain (11%), Great Britain (17%), Germany (20%), and France
(32%).
Once again then, if we wanted to be really specific we could create yet another layer
of sub-categories within this one that would refer specifically to world-views that are
without souls, [Aiia], or without spirits, [Aiib], or without deities [Aiic].
We can note here that some religions are described as atheistic, the most usual
example being certain forms of Buddhism. At first this may seem a little strange,
because as we have seen earlier, religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief
systems and worldviews that establish symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and
sometimes to moral values. Therefore it seems to be a contradiction to say that a
system that relates humanity to spirituality can adopt a position whereby it is atheistic.
But if we have carefully followed the definitions that I have given, then we can see
that this feeling of contradiction arises because the term 'atheism' is often broadened
in scope to mean a disbelief in spirituality generally, instead of its proper, more
specific meaning of a disbelief in a deity or deities.
Buddhism does not accept the idea of a personal God and it is for this very reason that
Buddhism is classed as being atheist but also as not being a religion. Many see the
non-adherence to the notion of an omnipotent Creator Deity or a Prime Mover as a
key distinction between Buddhism and other religions. In Buddhism the sole aim of
spiritual practice is the complete alleviation of stress in the cycle of life and suffering
to a state called nirvana, that is free from suffering.
However, Buddhists do accept the existence of beings in higher realms known as
devas. It should be understood that 'deva' is an imprecise term that refers to any being
living in a longer-lived and generally more blissful state than humans. Most of them
are not 'gods' in the common Western sense of the term, having little or no concern
with the human world and rarely if ever interacting with it. So, while Buddhist
traditions do not deny the existence of spirit-beings, they do not ascribe powers of
creation, salvation or judgment, in the typical Western sense, to these devas or 'spiritbeings'. They are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events in much the
same way as humans and animals have the power to do so. Just as humans can affect
the world more than animals, devas can affect the world more than humans. While
devas may be more powerful than humans, Buddhists believe none of them are

absolutely superior but that rather, like humans, they too are suffering in the ongoing
cycle of death and subsequent rebirth. Buddhists see devas as not having attained
nirvana and still subject to emotions, including jealousy, anger, delusion, sorrow, etc.
Thus, since a Buddha is believed to show the way to nirvana, a Buddha is called 'the
teacher of the gods and humans'. Thus, even though Buddhists refer to devas as 'gods',
they are not deities in the sense that we would use the term in the West or as I have
defined them earlier.
Buddhism then is not an a-spiritual materialistic view on the contrary, it accepts a
whole panoply or array of spirit beings, but none of them are deified as gods in the
Western sense of the term. Therefore Buddhism is an atheistic spirituality because it
has a spirituality that does not accept the existence of at least one god or deity. But
because it does accept the idea of devas I think that Buddhism can properly be called
a religion, because it is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems and
worldviews that establish symbols that relate humanity to spirituality (in the form of
devas) and to moral values.
Conversely, there are those approaches where souls, spirits, gods, deities or
God/Spirit are understood purely in metaphorical terms or in terms of some aspect or
state of the mind. These approaches are a-spiritual and materialistic because there is
no belief in actual, objectively existing personal souls, spirits, or deities. We will look
at these in due course.

Aiii - ANTI-SPIRITUALITY
Anti-spirituality is the position of being in opposition to or against a belief in souls,
spirits, or deities. Anti-spirituality therefore is not mere disbelief or apathy, but an
active opposition to spirituality. Anti-spirituality is a view adopted by those people
who consider that spirituality is dangerous or destructive. As with the earlier
categories explained above, the anti-spiritual position referred to here is a general and
broad opposition to the existence of souls, spirits or deities in the widest sense. The
term has a range of applications: in secular contexts it typically refers to direct
opposition to organized religion or to direct opposition to the belief in souls, spirits, or
deities.
Also, as with the earlier categories, we can be more specific and create yet another
layer of sub-categories within this one that would refer specifically to world-views
that are anti souls, [Aiiia], or anti spirits, [Aiiib], or anti deities [Aiiic]. Thus, we
could have an anti-theistic viewpoint that is opposition to a specific god or gods, but
not necessarily in opposition to souls. One example of a slightly more specific antispiritual view is demonstrated in 'Letters to a Young Contrarian' (2001), in which
Christopher Hitchens writes: 'I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I
not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the
influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful.' This is
a similar position to that of scientist Richard Dawkins who declared in his 2006 book
'The God Delusion', that a creator that is transcendent of nature almost certainly does
not exist and that religious faith is a delusiona fixed false belief. He has been
referred to in the media as 'Darwin's Rottweiler' for his aggressive position against
religion and his advocacy of evolutionary ideas.

So much then for an outline of a-spiritual materialism and it's sub-categories. Next I
move on to the first of the broad pro-spiritual categories the realm of the soul.

CATEGORY B) THE REALM OF THE SOUL

Category B, 'the realm of the soul', has a world-view that accepts to a greater or lesser
extent, the real, objective existence of souls as incorporeal entities. Again, I will
explore a number of sub-categories under the umbrella of this broad main category.
Because of this acceptance of souls, a person who holds this view cannot be a
materialist.
I have suggested that by the word 'soul' I mean some incorporeal aspect or element of
the material or physical nature of something. A 'soul' is not an incorporeal being in it's
own right, but an incorporeal aspect or essence of a material existent. The soul may be
understood as surviving the death of the body in some religions and in some facets of
occultism. In the case of a human, this is often thought of in the sense of being a
'ghost', which is simply a manifestation of the incorporeal soul of a deceased person.
So if I refer to necromancy or contact with the souls of the dead, then I will use the
word 'soul' in the sense of being some incorporeal element of our human nature that
continues to exist after the death of the physical body. In category B this disembodied
element of human nature is believed to have a real, objective existence and retains the
essential personhood of the deceased person, having agency, choice, motives,
emotions, attributes and personality.

Bi THE HUMAN SOUL

The first sub-category limits the existence of souls to human beings. In this subcategory, animals, plants, birds, rivers and tress and so on do not have souls. Only
human beings inherently have a soul as part of their human nature. At its most
narrow, there are no deities, no spirit-beings, only an incorporeal aspect to human
nature that is seen as surviving the death of the body. But sometimes a belief in the
human soul exists alongside other spiritual categories, such as a belief that there is
just one God. The sort of world-view that the narrower view generates can be seen in
the practice of venerating ancestors.
Ancestor Worship, also known as Ancestor Veneration or Ancestorism, is a
spiritual/religious practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a
continued existence, take an interest in the affairs of the world and possess the ability
to influence the fortune of the living. The minimum requirement for veneration
offered to the dead in this way is probably some kind of belief in an afterlife: a
survival, at least for a time, of personal identity beyond death. All cultures attach
ritual significance to the passing away of loved ones, but this is not equivalent to
ancestor veneration. The goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors
continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living and to sometimes ask
them for special favours or assistance. The social or non-religious function of ancestor

worship is to cultivate kinship values like filial piety, family loyalty and continuity of
the family lineage. Whilst far from being universal, ancestor veneration occurs in
societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity and it
remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.
Ancestor veneration is not the same as the worship of gods or deities. When a person
worships a deity or deities, it is to ask for some favour that can be granted by the
powerful, ruling or controlling spirit-deity. Generally speaking, however, the purpose
of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favours but to do one's filial duty. Some people
believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants.
Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do
for them, but that the expression of filial piety is what is important, such that whether
or not the ancestor receives what is offered is not the issue.
The issue for us in seeking to categorise such beliefs is whether or not the deceased
ancestor is considered to survive in some incorporeal way, or not. If an incorporeal
soul is believed to actually continue to exist, then such a belief belongs in this
category and sub-category [Bi]. If, on the other hand, the idea of the continued
existence of a soul is rejected, and the focus rather is on family ties and loyalties, then
such an approach would better fit into category A.
For people unfamiliar with how 'ancestor worship' is actually practiced and thought
of, the use of the translation 'worship' can be a cause of misunderstanding and is a
misnomer in many ways. In English, the word 'worship' usually refers to the reverent
love and devotion accorded to a deity or divine being. However, in other cultures,
such an act of 'worship' does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have
become any kind of deity. Rather the act is a way to respect, honour and look after
ancestors in their afterlives as well as possibly seek their guidance for their living
descendants. In this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some
may visit the grave of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them
in order to honour and remember them while also asking their deceased ancestors to
continue to look after them. However such a person would not consider themselves as
'worshipping' the ancestors in the Western sense of the word.
In some systems, the human soul is believed to pass to an easier world of abundant
game or ever-ripe crops, while in other systems, the soul remains on earth as a ghost,
often a malignant one. Still other systems combine these two beliefs, holding that the
soul must journey to the spirit world to avoid becoming lost and thus ending up
wandering as a ghost (e.g., the Navajo religion). Thus, funeral, mourning rituals and
ancestor veneration performed by those surviving the deceased are often considered
necessary for the successful completion of this journey by the departed soul.
From the belief in the survival of the soul of the dead arose the practice of offering
food, lighting fires, etc., at the grave, initially perhaps as an act of friendship or filial
piety, but developing later into an act of ancestor veneration. This simple offering of
food or the shedding of blood at the grave developed into an elaborate system of
sacrifice. Even where ancestor veneration is not found, the desire to provide the soul
of the dead with comforts in the future life may lead to the sacrifice of wives, slaves,
animals and so on, or to the breaking or burning of objects at the grave, or to the

provision of the ferryman's toll: a coin put in the mouth of the corpse to pay the
travelling expenses of the soul.
But all does not finish with the passage and arrival of the human soul to the land of
the dead. The soul may return to avenge its death by helping to discover the identity
of the murderer, or to wreak vengeance for itself. There is a widespread belief that
those who die a violent death become malignant souls who endanger the lives of those
who come near the haunted spot. In Malay folklore, the woman who dies in childbirth
becomes a pontianak: a vampire-like soul who threatens the life of human beings.
Belief in the survival of the human soul after the death of the body may be
accommodated and assimilated into other spiritual viewpoints or religious practices,
such that for example, some faith communities, in particular the Catholic Church,
venerate deceased saints as intercessors with God and the Christian church generally
accepts that human beings have a soul that will survive the death of the body and
appear before the Judgment Seat of God.
As a side note, Julian Jaynes' book 'The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of
the bicameral mind' offers some very interesting insights into possible origins of
ancestor veneration from a psychology point of view.

Bii NON-HUMAN SOULS

In the previous sub-category, only human beings were perceived as having an
incorporeal aspect or soul as part of their nature. But in this sub-category, the idea is
extended such that animals, plants, birds and natural objects such as trees, rivers and
mountains also have an incorporeal element or soul as part of their nature.
Animism (from Latin anima -'soul, life') refers to the belief that non-human entities
are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of soul/life-principle. It
encompasses beliefs where there is no separation between the spiritual and physical
(or material) worlds, such that souls exist not only in humans, but also in all other
animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such
as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment, including all the
elements, air, water, earth, and fire. Animism may go even further and attribute souls
to abstract concepts such as words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Animism
is particularly widely found in the religions of indigenous peoples and can be found in
Shinto and in some forms of Hinduism, Buddhism, Pantheism, and Neopaganism.
Throughout European history, philosophers such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas
among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals and plants as
well as people, however, the currently accepted definition of animism was only
developed in the 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, who created it as 'one of
anthropology's earliest concepts, if not the first', arguing that religion originally took
an animist form. According to the anthropologist Tim Ingold, animism shares
similarities to Totemism [Biii below], but differs from it in that it focuses on
individual soul-beings that provide a basis to life, whereas Totemism more typically
holds that there is a primary source, such as the land itself or the ancestors, providing
the basis to life. Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian

Aborigines are more typically totemic, whereas others like the Inuit are more typically
animistic in their worldview.
Animism in the widest sense, i.e., thinking of objects as animate and treating them as
if they were animate, is near universal. In many animistic worldviews found in
hunter-gatherer cultures, the human being is often regarded as on a roughly equal
footing with other animals, plants and natural forces. Therefore, animism creates a
moral imperative to treat these animal, plant and environmental agents with respect.
In this worldview, humans are considered a part of nature, rather than superior to it or
separate from it. In such societies, ritual is considered essential for survival as it wins
the favour of the souls of one's source of food, shelter and fertility and also wards off
malevolent souls. In more elaborate animistic religions, such as Shinto, there is a
greater sense of a special character to humans that sets them apart from the general
run of animals and objects, while retaining the necessity of ritual to ensure good luck,
favourable harvests and so on.
Most animistic belief systems hold that the soul survives physical death and thus
elaborate rituals may surround the funeral rites and the grave because there is the
threat of a soul returning in a malignant way. In addition, there may be other
dangerous and malignant souls in storms and so on, so people resort to magical or
religious means to repel the dangers threatened by such malignant souls. It is not
surprising to find that many peoples with animistic beliefs respect and venerate
animals, often regarding them as relatives. The practice of head shrinking found
among Jivaroan and Urarina peoples derives from a belief that if the souls of one's
mortal enemies (i.e., the nemesis of one's being) are not trapped within the head of the
slain enemy, then they can escape the slain body. Then such a soul may transmigrate
to another body and can take the form of a predatory animal and even exact revenge.
Animism is not the same as pantheism, [see category Diii below], although the two
are sometimes confused. One of the main differences between animism and pantheism
is that while animists believe everything to be spiritual in nature, they do not
necessarily see the spiritual nature of everything as being united in the way that
pantheists do. As a result, animism puts more emphasis on the uniqueness and
separateness of each individual soul. By contrast, in pantheism, everything shares the
same spiritual essence, rather than having distinct spirits and/or souls. Also, in
pantheism, this Spirit Essence is deified, whereas this is not the case with souls in
animism.
The New Age movement commonly purports to take an animistic stance by
acknowledging the existence of nature spirits. Modern Neopagans, especially EcoPagans, sometimes like to describe themselves as animists, meaning that they respect
the diverse community of living beings and incorporeal beings with whom humans
share the universe. But I am distinguishing in this essay between souls and spirits
and it may be that such neo-pagan beliefs properly belong to category C the realm
of spirits, since what they may be advocating are independent spirit beings rather than
souls. The animistic nature of folk beliefs is an anthropological cultural universal. The
belief in ghosts and souls animating the natural world as well as the practice of
ancestor veneration re-emerges in later materialistic developments within societies as
'superstition', or within monotheism as a belief in ghosts and saints or is elevated to a
belief in demons.

In the Sioux way of life, Wakan Tanka is the term often translated as 'the sacred' or
'the divine' and very often as 'The Great Spirit'. However, according to Russell Means,
its meaning is closer to 'Great Mystery' as Lakota spirituality is not monotheistic.
Before attempts at conversion to Christianity, Wakan Tnka was used to refer to an
organization of sacred entities whose ways were mysterious; thus, 'The Great
Mystery'. It is typically understood as the power or the sacredness that resides in
everything. This term describes every creature and object as wakan ('holy') or as
having aspects that are holy. For our purposes then we should note that the idea of
'divinity' or the 'divine' is a misnomer, because these two words refer to a deity of
some kind but the Great Mystery is not a deity. It is not clear to me what these entities
are, but if the Great Mystery is understood as an organisation of souls that are inherent
in all things then it belongs in this category. If it is understood as an organisation of
independently existing incorporeal spirits, but not deities, then it belongs in category
C below. If it is merely a power, or force, or energy or characteristic quality, then
whether unseen or not, or understood or not, it belongs to category A.

Biii ONE PRIMARY SOUL

I am not aware of any religious perspective that that takes a view that there is just one
soul, though others may know differently. If there is such a perspective, it goes here.
Totemism slightly moves to this position in that Totemism may typically hold that
there is a primary source, such as the land itself or the ancestors that provide the basis
to life. But this falls short of their being only one all-encompassing Primary Soul.
Sometimes the idea has developed of a person having a kinship or special connection
with a particular soul-being and it is this belief and practice that is known as
Totemism. Totemism then is a system of belief in which humans are said to have a
kinship or a mystical relationship with a soul-being, which may be an animal or plant
and so on. This soul-being or totem is thought to interact with a given kin group or an
individual and to serve as their emblem or symbol. Totemism is manifested in various
forms and types in different contexts and is most often found among populations
whose traditional economies relied on hunting and gathering, mixed farming with
hunting and gathering, or emphasized the raising of cattle.
The term 'totem' is derived from the Ojibwa word 'ototeman', meaning 'one's brothersister kin.' The grammatical root, 'ote', signifies a blood relationship between brothers
and sisters who have the same mother and who therefore may not marry each other.
The first accurate report about Totemism in North America was written by a
Methodist missionary, Peter Jones, himself an Ojibwa, who died in 1856 and whose
report was published posthumously. According to Jones, the Great Spirit [see
category Bii above], had given 'toodaims' (totems) to the Ojibwa clans and because of
this act, it should never be forgotten that members of the group are related to one
another and on this account may not marry among themselves.
People generally view the totem as a companion, relative, protector, progenitor, or
helper. They ascribe superhuman powers and abilities to it and offer it some
combination of respect, veneration, awe, and fear. Most cultures use special names
and emblems to refer to the totem and engage in partial identification with the totem

or symbolic assimilation to it. There is usually a prohibition or taboo against killing,

eating, or touching the totem.
Totemism is frequently mixed with different kinds of other beliefs, such as ancestor
worship or animism. Totemism may typically hold that there is a primary source, such
as the land itself or the ancestors that provide the basis to life. Such mixtures have
historically made the understanding of particular totemistic forms difficult and make
general categorisation of totemism difficult. Each system would have to be evaluated
on its own basis of belief. If the primary source is understood as originating from the
souls of human ancestors then it belongs to category Bi, if it originates from the soul
of the ancestral land, then it belongs in category Bii. If it is understood as an
organisation of independently existing incorporeal spirits, but not deities, then it
belongs in category C, below. If it based merely on an impersonal power, or force, or
energy or characteristic quality, then whether unseen or not, or understood or not, it
belongs to category A and one of its sub-categories.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL 'EXPERT'

One aspect that develops within general spirituality from very early on, is the rise of
the expert, the specialist or if you like 'professional' person someone who for
example, may be seen as especially gifted or skilled in communicating with souls, be
they human or otherwise. This is a facet or aspect of spirituality within the categories
described earlier and also within the categories that will be described later. Within the
spiritual categories that simply embrace the realm of the soul, such a person is called a
Shaman or medicine man. However, some communities transitioned from having a
nomadic existence to adopting an agricultural base and with this shift, the
development of spiritual life began to mirror that of civic life. Tribal elders were
consolidated and transformed into kings and bureaucrats and in the spiritual sphere,
shamans and adepts were changed into priests and a priestly caste. This shift is by no
means just a mere change of name. The shaman's task was to negotiate between the
tribe and the realm of souls on behalf of the tribe, as directed by the collective will of
the tribe, but the priest's role was to transfer instructions from the soul/spirit realms to
the city-state on behalf of the souls or spirits and as directed by the will of those souls
or spirits. This shift represents a major move of power by distancing soul and spirit
realms from those participating in the religions reflecting such spheres and by
reversing the direction of power away from the group to the souls or spirits. It is at
this stage that highly codified and elaborate rituals began to emerge, such as the
funeral rites of the Egyptians and the sacrificial rituals of the Babylonians and
Persians, setting the stage for powerful formal religions. The shift of the role of
spiritual 'expert' into yet further specialisation and distancing from the lay-person such
that the 'expert' becomes a priest, meant that this specialised role lead to specialised
knowledge and there began to emerge not only a specialised spiritual knowledge but
also a form of specialist proto-scientific knowledge which I shall consider later.
For the moment, let's just take a look at the shaman or medicine man, since this is the
role of spiritual expertise in a society where the spiritual perspective centres on the
realm of souls (category B). For our purposes, this is not another category or subcategory, but a facet, aspect or role within the sub-categories of category B as I have
described them above.

THE REALM OF SOULS AND SHAMANISM

Shamanism is an anthropological term referring to a range of beliefs and practices
regarding communication with the realm of the soul. Shamanic practices may
originate as early as the Palaeolithic period, predating all organized religions, but it
has certainly emerged as early as the Neolithic period. Anthropologists theorize that
shamanism developed as a form of magic (see below) to ensure a successful hunt or
gathering of food. To quote Eliade: 'A first definition of this complex phenomenon,
and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy.'
Shamanism encompasses the belief that shamans are intermediaries or messengers
between the physical human world and the realm of the soul. Shamans are said to treat
ailments and illnesses by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul
restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman
also enters the realms of the soul to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the
community. Shamans may visit these realms to bring guidance to misguided souls and
to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman
then, operates primarily within the realm of the soul, which in turn affects the human
world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment.
Although the causes of disease lie in the realm of souls, being inspired by malicious
souls or witchcraft, both spiritual and physical methods are used to heal. Commonly, a
shaman 'enters the body' of the sufferer to confront the infirmity of the soul and heals
the person by banishing the infectious soul. Many shamans have expert knowledge of
medicinal plants native to their area and a herbal treatment is often prescribed. In
many places shamans learn directly from the plants, harnessing their effects and
healing properties after obtaining permission from the indwelling or patron souls. The
use of totemic items such as rocks with special powers and an animating soul is
common. Such practices are presumably very ancient. Plato wrote in his Phaedrus that
the 'first prophecies were the words of an oak' and that those who lived at that time
found it rewarding enough to 'listen to an oak or a stone, so long as it was telling the
truth'. Again, the work by Julian Jaynes is insightful here.
In areas where indigenous shamanism still thrives, there is a clear divide between 'lay'
people (who participate in and practice shamanic belief and tradition) and the
professionals, experts or specialists themselves. A lay practitioner of shamanism is
not awarded any special title.
There are many variations of shamanism throughout the world and all forms of
shamanism share several common beliefs. Common beliefs identified by Eliade are
the following:
Souls exist and they play important roles both in individual lives and in human
society.
The shaman can communicate with the realm of the soul.
Souls can be good or evil.
The shaman can treat sickness caused by evil souls.
The shaman can employ trance-inducing techniques to incite visionary ecstasy and go
on 'vision quests.'

The shaman's soul can leave the body to enter the realm of souls to search for
answers.
The shaman evokes animal images as guides, omens and message-bearers.
The shaman can tell the future, scry, throw bones/runes and perform other varied
forms of divination or can attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way
of a hidden or secret standardized process or ritual.
Shamans require individualized knowledge and special abilities. Many shamans
operate alone, although some take on an apprentice. By engaging in their work, a
shaman is exposed to significant personal risk from the realm of souls, from enemy
shamans, or from the means employed to alter the shaman's state of consciousness.
Some of the plant materials used by shamans are toxic or fatal if misused. Failure to
return from an out-of-body journey can lead to death. Spells are commonly used to
protect against these dangers and the use of more dangerous plants is often very
highly ritualised.
Appearing in various tribal peoples from Aboriginal Australia and Maori New
Zealand to the Amazon, African savannah and pagan Europe, some form of shamanic
contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of
human communities. The Shamanism practiced by the indigenous peoples of the
Americas was called 'medicine' and was practiced by 'medicine men'. In addition to
healing, 'medicine' served many other purposes, for example among the Cheyenne,
one of Plains Indian tribes that lived in the Great Plains of North America, 'medicine'
such as war paint, war shields, war shirts and war bonnets, such as the famous war
bonnet of Roman Nose, served to protect a warrior from being wounded during battle.
Because of the confusion of the words 'soul' and 'spirit', it is not clear to me at least,
whether shamans accepted merely a realm of souls or whether they also accepted the
existence of independent incorporeal spirit beings in their own right, or even both.
This is the factor that would determine our classification. If they only accepted a
realm of souls like the animists, then shamanism belongs here in category B. If they
accept a realm of spirit-beings as existing independently and separately from being an
inherent part of a person, animal or object, then shamanism belongs to category C,
below. If shamanism accepts both of these perspectives, then it is a compound
approach to be found in both categories B and C.
So next, I will move on to look at category C the realm of spirits.

CATEGORY C) THE REALM OF SPIRITS

Category C, 'the realm of spirits', has a world-view that accepts to a greater or lesser
extent, the real, objective existence of independently existing incorporeal beings. By
'independent' I mean that these spirit-beings do not constitute an element or aspect of
a material object, animal, plant or human. In other words, unlike the soul of a human,
animal, plant, bird or object, spirits exist in their own independent right. Into this
category of the realm of spirits we can include fairy-folk, angels and demons,

Ci FAIRY FOLK

The word 'fairy' is derived ultimately from the Late Latin word 'fata': one of the
personified Fates: hence a guardian or tutelary spirit, or spirit in general. 'Fata',
although it became a feminine noun in the Romance languages, was originally the
neuter plural ('the Fates') of 'fatum', past participle of the verb 'fari': to speak, hence
'thing spoken, decision, decree' or 'prophetic declaration, prediction', hence 'destiny,
fate'. It was used as the equivalent of the personified Fates who determined the course
and ending of human life. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and
as having magical or supernatural powers. The term 'fairy' can be used more or less
specifically, but for the purposes of this essay, I will use the term in a general way to
include goblins, hobgoblins, brownies, pixies, elves, gnomes, sprites, elves, bogie
men and so on.
There are a number of theories as to the origins of fairy-folk. One popular belief was
that they were the dead, or some subclass of the dead. The Irish banshee (Irish Gaelic
bean s or Scottish Gaelic bean shth, which both mean 'fairy woman') is sometimes
described as a ghost. The northern English Cauld Lad of Hylton, though described as
a murdered boy, is also described as a household sprite like a brownie, much of the
time a Barghest or Elf. One tale recounted a man caught by the fairies, who found that
whenever he looked steadily at one, he saw that the fairy was a dead neighbour of his.
This was among the most common views expressed by those who believed in fairies,
although many of the informants would express the view with some doubts. One
folktale recounts how a woman had hidden some of her children from God and then
looked for them in vain, because they had become the hidden people - the fairies. This
way of perceiving the fairy-folk firmly belongs to Category Bi, human souls, above.
Another view held that the fairies were an intelligent species, distinct from humans
and angels. In alchemy in particular they were regarded as elementals, such as
gnomes and sylphs, as described by Paracelsus. This is uncommon in folklore, but
accounts describing the fairies as 'spirits of the air' have been found popularly. Such a
belief places them firmly in this category, Ci.
A third belief held that they were a class of 'demoted' angels. One popular story stated
that when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates of Heaven to be shut. As a result,
those spirit-beings still in heaven remained angels, but those in hell became devils and
those caught in between became fairies. Others held that they had been thrown out of
heaven, not being good enough to remain there, but they were not evil enough for hell
either. This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a 'teind' or tithe to Hell. As
fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subjects of the Devil. This
view places fairy-folk firmly in category Cii, because they are of the same nature as
Angels and Demons their position in the ranks of spirit-beings being determined by
their moral status as opposed to their essential nature.
A fourth belief was that the fairies were demons entirely. This belief became much
more popular with the growth of Puritanism in England in the 1500's. Thus the
hobgoblin, once a friendly household spirit, (possibly category Ci), became a wicked
goblin and dealing with fairies was in some cases considered a form of witchcraft and
punished as such at this time. As a demon, the hobgoblin falls into category Cii.

However, the belief in their angelic nature (Cii), was less common than that they were
the dead, (Bi), but it still found popularity, especially in Theosophist circles.
Informants who described their nature sometimes held aspects of both the third and
the fourth views described above, or observed that the matter was disputed. Both
these views belong to category Cii, the dispute centreing on the moral character of
these spirit-beings rather than their essential nature.
When considered as objectively existing spirit-beings that a person might actually
encounter, fairies were noted for their mischief and malice. Some pranks ascribed to
them, such as tangling the hair of sleepers into 'Elf-locks', stealing small items or
leading a traveller astray, are generally harmless. But far more dangerous behaviours
were also attributed to fairies. Any form of sudden death might stem from a fairy
kidnapping, with the apparent corpse being a wooden stand-in with the appearance of
the kidnapped person. Consumption (tuberculosis) was sometimes blamed on the
fairies forcing young men and women to dance at revels every night, causing them to
waste away from lack of rest. Fairies riding domestic animals, such as cows, pigs or
ducks, could cause paralysis or mysterious illnesses. As a consequence, the practical
advice concerning fairies was normally to avoid them.
Today, fairies are most often relegated to being traditional myths and superstitions
folklore - or as belonging to the realm of children's fantasy stories in other words as
being superstitious fantasies rather than being objectively real spirit-beings, thus
placing them into Category Aii. 'Folklore' consists of legends, music, oral history,
proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a
particular culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which
these expressive genres are shared. Folklore can contain religious elements, but it
equally concerns itself with the sometimes mundane traditions of everyday life. Thus,
folklore frequently ties the practical and the esoteric into one narrative package.
Folklore has often been conflated with mythology and vice versa, because it has been
assumed that any spiritual or spiritually figurative story that does not relate to and
conform to the dominant spiritual and religious beliefs of the time is not of the same
status as those dominant beliefs. Thus for example, Roman religion is called 'myth' by
today's dominant religions. In that way, both 'myth' and 'folklore' have become catchall terms for all narratives that do not correspond with the dominant spiritual and
religious belief structure.
Folklore has many cultural aspects, such as allowing for escape from societal
consequences. In addition, folklore can also serve to validate a culture (romantic
nationalism), as well as transmit a culture's morals and values. So stories and
traditions concerning fairy folk may well be old spiritual beliefs that have been
changed into what are now considered to be 'superstitious myths'. Remnants of these
old beliefs can still be found today however in various rituals, whether formalized in a
cultural or religious system (e.g. weddings, baptisms, harvest festivals) or practiced
within a family or secular context. For example, in certain parts of the United States
(as well as other countries) some still subscribe to the practice of placing a knife, or a
pair of scissors, under the mattress to 'cut the birth pains' after giving birth.
Nevertheless, even in the twentieth century, those with astute minds were sometimes
completely absorbed in the reality of fairies, as in the case for example of Sir Arthur

Conan Doyle, the famous author of the Sherlock Holmes series of stories, who
believed that fairies were real following the famous Cottingley Fairy photographs
taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. It was only at the end of the twentieth
century that one of the sisters who took the photographs finally established that these
images were the result of trickery, after decades of considerable academic debate by
photographic and spiritual experts.
Strictly speaking then, category Ci refers to the view that fairy-folk are an intelligent
species of spirit-being distinct from human souls and angels, and are often seen as
causing minor 'accidents', inconveniences and hindrances.

Cii SPIRITS AND NATURE SPIRITS

Category Bii above outlined the extended idea that animals, plants, birds and natural
objects such as trees, rivers and mountains also have an incorporeal element or soul as
part of their nature. Here, in category Cii, we are suggesting that there are nature
spirits - independently existing incorporeal beings that may 'inhabit' or dwell in
specific areas such as trees, woodland, forests, streams, waterfalls, pools and lakes,
but which are not part of the inherent nature of these objects or places. Neither are
these spirits thought of as gods or goddesses they are not deified.
They are sometimes known by the word 'daemon'. The words 'dmon' and 'daimn'
are a reference to the daemons of ancient Greek religion as well as daemons of later
Hellenistic religion and philosophy. In a narrow sense, daemons are good or
benevolent nature spirits.
On a broader scale however, they may be considered as spirit-beings of the same
nature as both mortals and gods, or as being similar to ghosts, or as being heroic
spirits of the underworld, spirit guides, forces of nature or even the gods themselves.
This range of views as to their nature means that they may fall into just one or into a
number of categories in this essay, according to how deamons are defined. If they are
'ghosts' or souls of some kind, then they fall into one of the sub-categories of
Category B above. If they are merely metaphorical personalisations of impersonal
forces of nature, then they fall into one of the sub categories of Category A above. If
they are deified as gods, then they belong to a sub-category of Category D below. If
they are independent incorporeal personal spirit-beings in their own right, then they
belong here in Category Cii. Sometimes, though fitting into category Cii, they are also
considered as messengers either of the gods or of God, in which case they still belong
here in Category Cii but as part of a compound multi-category perspective of
spirituality that will also include a sub-category of Category D below.
Walter Burkert suggests that unlike the Judeo-Christian use of demon in a strictly
malignant sense '[a] general belief in spirits is not expressed by the term daimon until
the fifth century when a doctor asserted that neurotic women and girls can be driven
to suicide by imaginary apparitions: 'evil daimones'. [Category A]. How far this is an
expression of widespread popular superstition is not easy to judge'
On the basis of Hesiod's myth, however, what did gain currency was for great and
powerful figures to be honoured after death as a daimon. [Category B]. In Hesiod's

Theogony, Phaton becomes an incorporeal daimon, but, for example, the ills released
by Pandora are deadly gods: 'keres', not 'daimones'. From Hesiod also, the people of
the Golden Age were transformed into daimones (spirits) by the will of Zeus, to
benevolently serve mortals as their guardian spirits: 'good beings who dispense
riches [nevertheless], they remain invisible, known only by their acts'. The daimon
of venerated heroes, were localized by the construction of shrines, so as not to
restlessly wander and they were believed to confer protection and good fortune on
those offering their respects.
In the Old Testament, evil spirits appear in the books of Judges and Kings. In the
Greek translation of the Septuagint, made for the Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria,
the Greek 'ngelos' ('messenger') translates the Hebrew word 'mal'ak', while 'daimon'
(or the gender neutral 'daimonion') carries the meaning of a natural spirit that is less
than divine [Category C].
Homer's use of the words 'theo' ('gods') and 'damones' suggest that though distinct,
they are similar in kind. Later writers developed the distinction between the two. In
'Cratylus', Plato speculates that the etymology of daimn/daemones (deity/daemon) is
from 'knowing' or 'wise', however, it is more probably 'daio' ('to divide, to distribute
destinies, to allot'). In Plato's 'Symposium', the priestess Diotima teaches Socrates that
love is not a god, but rather a 'great daemon'. She goes on to explain that 'everything
daemonic is between divine and mortal', and she describes daemons as 'interpreting
and transporting human things to the gods and divine things to men; entreaties and
sacrifices from below, and ordinances and requitals from above...'. In Plato's 'Apology
of Socrates', Socrates claimed to have a daimonion (literally, a 'divine something') that
frequently warned him - in the form of a 'voice' - against mistakes, but never told him
what to do. However, the Platonic Socrates never refers to the daimonion as a daimon;
it was always an impersonal 'something' or 'sign'. Regarding the charge brought
against Socrates in 399, Plato surmised 'Socrates does wrong because he does not
believe in the gods in whom the city believes, but introduces other daemonic
beings' Burkert notes that the idea that 'a special being watches over each
individual, a daimon who has obtained the person at his birth by lot, is an idea which
we find in Plato, undoubtedly from earlier tradition'. A distorted view of Homer's
daemon results from an anachronistic reading in the light of later characterizations by
Plato and his successor as head of the Academy, Xenocrates, of the daemon as a
potentially dangerous lesser spirit: Burkert states that in the 'Symposium', Plato has
'laid the foundation' that would make it all but impossible to imagine the daimon in
any other way with Eros, who is neither god nor mortal but a mediator in between and
this was later absorbed in Christian patristic writings along with Neo-Platonic
elements. The usage of 'daimon' in the New Testament's original Greek text caused
the Greek word to be applied to the Judeo-Christian concept of an evil spirit by the
early 2nd century A.D.
The Hellenistic Greeks divided daemons into good and evil categories: agathodaimon
('noble spirit'), from agaths ('good, brave, noble, moral, lucky, useful'), and
kakdaimon ('malevolent spirit'), from kaks ('bad, evil'). They resemble the jinn (or
genie) of Arab folklore and in their humble efforts to help mediate the good and ill
fortunes of human life; they resemble the Judeo-Christian guardian angel and
adversarial demon, respectively. Eudaimonia, the state of having a eudaemon, came to

mean 'well-being' or 'happiness'. The comparable Roman concept is the genius that
accompanies and protects a person or presides over a place.
We can see that there is then a wide range of understanding and conceptualisation for
the realm of spirits, such that we need to define our understanding of what we mean
by such beings in order to then be able to categorise them correctly. The particular
definition of this category, Category Cii, is of an independently existing spirit-being
with personhood, but who is not deified into a god or goddess. Thus this category
does not describe some heroic, noble, venerated soul, or 'ghost' [Category B], nor does
it describe an impersonal force of nature [Category A], nor does it describe any
metaphorical personified description of such an impersonal force, [Category A].
Neither does it describe a deity, god or goddess, [Category D]. But neither are these
minor spirits [Category C1], like fairies or goblins.
Category Cii specifically describes an objectively existing, personal, independent
incorporeal spirit-being who may be morally good or in contrast, mischievous,
deceitful and evil. Such beings are generally considered to have superior powers, such
as controlling storms and so on. In this way, they may be above humans, yet they may
at the same time also be considered to be servants or messengers of a deity. Angels
are considered to be such messengers of God. It may be considered that despite the
superior powers of these spirit-beings, through the use of formulas, incantations and
rituals by a spiritual 'expert', such beings may be summoned into the service of an
adept such as a sorcerer, wizard or witch, in order to do their bidding, whether for
good or evil. In some cases, some of these spirit-beings, usually the malevolent ones,
may be considered as being able to enter into or possess a person demon possession
causing them to behave erratically and so on. These beings may also be arranged in
a hierarchical order such as angels and archangels arrayed in powers and
principalities.
How then do daemons differ from the fairy-folk categorised in Ci? For the purposes
of this essay, I am picking out a twofold aspect. Firstly, there is a difference in the
magnitude and extent of their powers. Fairy-folk seem more localised and seem to
have less power than spirits. Whereas as mischievous imps may cause minor mishaps
or squalls of inclement weather, spirits on the other hand may cause catastrophes,
disasters and even death on a grander scale. If spirits are considered as spirit beings in
service to a deity, then their powers and abilities are often curbed and managed by the
deity or deities. Secondly, there seems to be little of the celestial concerning fairyfolk, whereas spirits are often described as celestial beings. 'Celestial' means 'related
to the sky or heavens'. Angels are often thought of as celestial beings, and Satan or
Lucifer along with his fellow 'unclean' spirits are fallen angels fallen and banished
from heaven that is the abode of God. Fairy-folk on the other hand seem more
earthbound and perhaps even related to an underworld. They appear to inhabit
woodlands, streams, caves and so on rather than having the sky as their domain.

MAGIC AN ASIDE
As we have considered the various categories and sub-categories above, I have on a
couple of occasions mentioned the idea of magic and magical powers. Magic is a

complex subject that covers, in its widest sense, compound elements or categories of
spirituality as well as sometimes-contradictory strands or aspects. So I want to take a
little time to explore this theme in order to tease out how the general theme of magic
fits more specifically into the various categories and sub-categories that I have already
outlined.
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either through specialised
knowledge of hidden or occult laws that are unknown to science, or by the use of
supernatural means. Modern magic sits in contrast to modern science in that modern
science does not accept anything that is not subject to either direct or indirect
observation, or to logical analysis, whereas practitioners of magic may claim access to
inexplicable forces beyond logic.
Magic has been practiced in all cultures and utilizes ways of understanding,
experiencing and influencing the world somewhat akin to those offered by religion,
though it is sometimes regarded as being more focused on achieving results than
religious worship is. Magic is often viewed with suspicion by the wider community
and is commonly practised in isolation and secrecy. However, modern Western
magicians generally state that the primary purpose of practicing magic is to achieve
personal spiritual growth.
Modern perspectives on magic broadly follow two views, which also correspond
closely to ancient views. The first sees magic as a result of a universal sympathy or
connectedness within the universe, such that if something is done here, then a
corresponding result happens somewhere else. The second view sees magic as
collaboration with spirits who cause the desired effect. This distinction is important
for this essay in that it reveals a major difference within magical thinking with regard
to its approach to spirituality. The first view, where no appeal is made to souls or
spirits, belongs to Category A, whereas the second view, that utilises collaboration
with spirits, belongs to Category C: usually Category Cii, though its origin may be in
Category B.
SYMPATHETIC MAGIC AND PROTO-SCIENCE
The first perspective, which is orientated around a universal sympathy and
connectedness within the universe leads eventually to a form of proto-science. When
this magical perspective originated, science, as we understand it today, did not exist.
Rather, what prevailed in terms of a world-view was what Ken Wilber would call a
pre-rational level or stage of societal and individual development. The rational,
logical, analytical, empirical approach that became common in science and which is
more familiar to us today, did not emerge until the end of what Wilber calls the
Mythic stage or level of individual and societal development, which in the West is
signified by the start of the demise of a literally understood monotheistic Christianity
- what we would now call religious fundamentalist thinking - and its gradual
replacement by the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth
century. Prior to the demise of this form of Christianity, we are probably familiar with
the Church's opposition to the emerging modern scientific views of people like
Galileo or Da Vinci who found themselves in danger of being branded heretics
because their observations began to conflict with the established orthodox world-view
that the church promoted. Like the supporters of any dominant, prevailing ideology or

world-view, the church fought hard to maintain its position within the status quo and
to be fair, the evidence brought forward for these new ideas was not always as
persuasive as it may seem to us today. Prior to what were then cutting edge thinkers
like Galileo and Da Vinci, we have a proto-science: a science that is in many ways
confined within the dominant world-view of the day. The prefix 'proto' - indicates the
first or earliest or original. In this case then, the first, or original or earliest form of
science. Thus, in the West, in late medieval, pre-reformation times, proto-science had
an approach that in many ways often respected and was subservient to the then
dominant Christian world-view. Anything that was contrary to this dominant worldview often had to be written, shared or performed in secrecy to avoid scathing
penalties. In turn, prior to the dominance of Christian thought, there was a pagan
approach and as we move further back in time, we begin to move to the sort of
animistic world-views that we have been considering earlier. It is in this realm of the
animistic/soul milieu that proto-science emerges in the form of certain types of
magical thought and practice.
At such a time the world and the forces in it were not well understood. Proto-science
in the form of magical thinking was an attempt to understand this world and to gain
control of outcomes such as the ensuring of a good harvest or the warding off of
illness, or the gaining of victory in battles and so on. Magic supplied primitive
humans with a number of ready-made rituals, acts and beliefs, with a definite mental
and practical technique that served to bridge the dangerous gaps in every important
pursuit or critical situation. Both magic and modern science has definite aims to help
human instincts, needs and pursuits. Both magic and modern sciences develop
procedures that must be followed to accomplish specific goals. Magic and modern
sciences are both based on knowledge. This is the root meaning of the word 'science' [Middle English, knowledge, learning, from Old French, from Latin scientia, from
scient-, present participle of scire, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots.] Magic
was a form of specialised, even hidden, secret knowledge.
In early magical thinking, the prevalent idea that the universe had a universal
sympathy or connectedness led to a principle or law of similarity, also known as the
'association of ideas'. One classic example is that of the rooster and the sunrise. When
a rooster crows, we know that it is as a response to the rising of the sun. However, in
sympathetic magic, the principle of similarity would suggest that since the sunrise
follows the crowing of the rooster, it is the rooster that must have caused the sun to
rise. Causality is inferred where it might not otherwise have been. Therefore, a
practitioner might believe that if he is able to cause the rooster to crow, he will be able
to control the timing of the sunrise. Another use of the principle of similarity is the
construction and manipulation of representations of some target to be affected (e.g.
voodoo dolls), which are then believed to bring about a corresponding effect on the
target (e.g. breaking a limb of a doll will bring about an injury in the corresponding
limb of someone depicted by the doll).
Another general principle found within this proto-science of sympathetic magic is the
principle or law of contagion. This principle suggests that once two objects come into
contact with each other, they will continue to affect each other even after the contact
between them has been broken. One example is related to adoption. Among some
American Indians, when a child is adopted his or her adoptive mother will pull the
child through some of her clothes, symbolically representing the birth process and

thereby associating the child with herself. Therefore, the child emotionally becomes
hers even though their relationship is not biological. This kind of view might be used
to support the idea of healing relics for example, such as a piece of wood from the
cross on which Jesus was crucified, or a piece of garment once worn by an apostle.
We can see how easy it is for proto-science disciplines such as astrology to emerge
from these kinds of ideas. Thus a way in which guidance and help could be sought by
these early societies is through this way of hidden wisdom and superior knowledge,
through those who use formulas and incantations, those who use charms and amulets,
through those who seek guidance by astrology, or those who use potions and drugs, or
snake charmers and seers.
This proto-science magic also includes a group that we call sorcerers. The word
'sorcerer' means 'wise', and the equivalent Greek word is 'Magos' or 'Magi' from which
we get our word 'magic'. In this group are the wise men that came to see Jesus at his
birth. They are wise men, educated philosophers perhaps, skilled and adept in this
secret, hidden knowledge. The idea of sleight of hand, charlatanism or deliberate
deception is not necessarily present here. The emphasis rather is on knowledge. The
magi specialised in dreams and omens and claimed the gift of prophecy. Therefore
they observed the skies and saw the star in the East, which according to their beliefs
was of significance. We also include here a group known as 'diviners': those who seek
to foretell the future through the interpreting of omens, or by the actions of animals or
birds, or by casting lots. This is an attempt to discover hidden knowledge by
mechanical or formulaic means: sometimes for example, the examination of animal
entrails was made for guidance or divination. In the Bible, the first indication of
divination is found in Genesis 30 v 27. The same word is used in Genesis 44 v 5, 15,
and it means 'to hiss, to whisper a magic spell, to prognosticate, enchant, to learn by
experience and diligently observe'. The idea of diligent observation and learning by
experience are here in these references, whereas elsewhere, a different word is used,
which puts greater emphasis on soothsaying and the casting of lots. Thus it was that
Laban learned by divination, by experience and close observation, that God had
blessed him through Jacob. By Genesis 45, reference is made to a cup that is used for
divination and already the idea is coming in of the close observation of something in
order to predict the future, rather like reading tea leaves at the bottom of a cup. The
references in Genesis are to Joseph divining by means of this cup. He was one who
had the gift of discovering things hidden from other men in a sympathetic,
connected universe, the forms made by the dregs in the cup reflected what was
happening in the wider universe. This summarizes neatly a sympathetic magic maxim:
- 'as above, so below'.
The Babylonians who had defeated Israel and taken them into captivity had experts
and adepts who practiced a lot of sorcery and had many potent spells, which they had
laboured at since childhood. Astrologers came forward and gazed at the stars and
made monthly predictions. The people trusted these practitioners and their wisdom
and knowledge, the practitioners being well educated for their time: they were wise
men, working as judges and scribes as well as being royal advisors and chaplains.
These sorcerers were priests, philosophers, men of science; and as we have seen, in
these times there was a connection, even a fusion, between oriental proto-science and
occult knowledge such as for example between astronomy and astrology. Varieties of

divination include: Astrology, Augury, Cartomancy, Chiromancy, Dowsing, Fortune

telling, Geomancy, I Ching, Omens, Scrying, Extispicy and Tarot reading.
The same ideas are carried on into the New Testament of the Bible. In Acts 13 v 6-12
we find a sorcerer in the same sense as I have just described. His name was Elymas
and the roots of this name in Arabic means 'to know' and in Hebrew 'to hide': the roots
of proto-science - hidden knowledge. Elymas was not a heathen, but a Jew, a teacher
of high science with religion. He openly resisted Barnabas and Paul and the Greek
word used here suggests that this was not only with argument and dispute but also by
other, more indirect methods. In this passage we find another common idea, more and
more associated with those who practice hidden knowledge charlatanism and deceit.
According to Acts, the Apostle Paul denounced Elymas declaring that he was full not just tainted - but full of deceit, craft, guile and subtlety. Elymas had a desire and
disposition to deceive and was full of mischief, unscrupulousness and recklessness.
Paul declared him to be a son of the devil. The word 'devil' means 'slanderer, false
accuser' and Paul declared that Elymas was like the devil - he had his characteristics,
he belonged to his group - the devil's children being liars and sinners. Even allowing
for any propagandist exaggeration, the points are still made concerning sorcery being
hidden, secret knowledge, sometimes associated with deceit and sleight of hand and
thus being condemned and marginalized.
The lines of demarcation between modern science, magic and religion all have origins
dating to times when established thought processes and dominant world-views were
being challenged. In Biblical accounts we can see a conflict between the proto-science
path of hidden knowledge and wisdom on the one hand and the rise of Judaic and
Christian monotheism on the other. Thus we have accounts of Moses competing with
Pharaoh's wise men and the trend continues right through Israel's Babylonian
captivity to the disciples and Apostles. In the West, orthodox, monotheistic
Christianity eventually became the dominant world-view. Continuing the tradition of
the Apostles, the practices of sympathetic magic were condemned and marginalized
by the Christian church. The possibility of anything happening outside of God's
purpose was denied. So magic spells were viewed as ineffective and blasphemous,
because the church required belief in a Deity who could be deflected from His
purpose only by prayer and supplication. Even so, one of the founders of modern
science, Isaac Newton, began his work in mathematics because he wanted to see
'whether judicial astrology had any claim to validity.' In other words, the modern
scientific approach sometimes emerged from the proto-science of sympathetic magic.
The Protestant Reformation introduced further debate. For example, the Catholic
Church was attacked for its doctrine of transubstantiation: the idea that the bread and
wine miraculously change in substance to the body and blood of Christ, because it
was considered a type of sacramental magic. Indeed, this idea that the bread and wine
miraculously change in substance to the body and blood of Christ is a residue of
sympathetic magical thinking. Furthermore, the Protestant Reformation was a
significant moment in the history of magical thought because Protestantism provided
the impetus for an objective, systematic understanding of the world. In this objective
systematic framework, there was less room for secretive magic and its practices.
The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment that followed the Reformation essentially
initiated yet further differentiation between the three disciplines of science, magic and

religion. Whereas science could be revised and developed through rational thought,
magic was seen as less logical, objective or systematic than science or religion,
making it the least respected of the three.
Science is a system of applied knowledge by which humans acquire mastery of the
environment. In science, the natural and the spiritual realms are clearly separate
spheres, whereas in religion, nature and spirit are interconnected. Science is a
developed discipline: a logical argument and hypothesis is created and this can be
proved or challenged by observation and measurement. The base of scientific
knowledge can be extended, whilst religion is more concrete and absolute.
Sympathetic magic, the least accepted of the three disciplines in Western society, is
an altogether unique idea, a strictly ritualistic action that implements forces and
objects outside the realm of the gods, the supernatural and the spiritual. These objects
and events are said to be intrinsically efficacious, so that the supernatural is
unnecessary. To the Greeks and others, sympathetic magic was rightly I think,
considered to be a proto-science. Proto-scientific sympathetic magic is therefore not
spiritual in its outlook and it belongs to category A in this study.
Adherents to modern sympathetic magic may well take the view that there is a force
or energy that is natural, but which cannot be detected by science at present and which
in fact may not be detectable at all. Common terms referring to such a magical energy
include mana, numen, chi or kundalini. These are sometimes regarded as fluctuations
of an underlying primary substance (akasha, aether) that is present in all things and
that interconnects and binds all existents. Magical energy is thus also present in all
things, though it can be especially concentrated in magical objects. This natural
energy is typically seen as being especially responsive to the use of symbols, so that a
person, event or object can be affected by manipulating an object that symbolically
represents them or it.
Alternatively, adherents may focus on psychological aspects as opposed to external
energy. Thus disciplines such as meditation may be encouraged. A certain amount of
focusing or restricting the mind to some imagined object (or will), according to
Aleister Crowley, produces mystical attainment or 'an occurrence in the brain
characterized essentially by the uniting of subject and object' (Book Four, Part 1:
Mysticism). Magic, as defined previously, seeks to aid concentration by constantly
recalling the attention to the chosen object (or Will), thereby producing said
attainment. For example, if one wishes to concentrate on some attainment or outcome,
one might memorize a system of correspondences (perhaps chosen arbitrarily, as this
would not affect its usefulness for mystical purposes) and then make every object that
one sees 'correspond' to the desired attainment or outcome. Aleister Crowley wrote
that '. . . the exaltation of the mind by means of magickal practices leads (as one may
say, in spite of itself) to the same results as occur in straightforward Yoga.' Crowley's
magick thus becomes a form of mental discipline, designed to train the mind to
achieve greater concentration.
Or, with a similar psychological emphasis, there may be a focus on the power of the
subconscious mind. To believers who think that they need to convince their
subconscious mind to make the changes that they desire, all energies (and any socalled 'spirits') are really projections and symbols that make sense to the subconscious
mind.

Some modern adherents of sympathetic magic may take a Trans-spiritual view where
any ideas of spirit beings or deities are transcended. As we shall see later, Transspiritual views hold to a Unifying Principle in the universe to the Oneness of All.
Based on fundamental concepts of Non-duality, this philosophy holds that Magic is
little more than the application of one's own inherent, essential unity with the
universe. It hinges upon personal or Self-realization, or 'illumination, where it is
perceived that the self is limitless, one may live in unison with nature, seeking and
preserving balance in all things.
So far I have considered such approaches as Astrology, Fortune telling [and later
Alchemy] and so on as proto-science. Originally they formed a kind of inquiry that set
the foundations for the emergence of modern science, as we know it. However, now
that scientific disciplines such as Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology and so on have
emerged and matured, where does this leave these proto-science approaches? As far
as modern science is concerned, the knowledge gained in these proto-science
disciplines has either been absorbed and built on in modern science, or it is either
weak, non-existent or actually goes against modern scientific understanding. Even if
we allow that we are dealing with spirituality here with non-material realms that
often do not lend themselves to direct scientific/materialist methods such as
observation, measurement and repeatability the credibility of some of these
approaches is found wanting. To persist in adhering to them, believing in them and/or
practicing them is often then, in the light of modern science and rationality, a
regressive step and we can often call such approaches pseudo-science.

PSEUDOSCIENCE
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice that is presented to us as scientific, but
which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or
plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. The word
'pseudoscience' is derived from the Greek root pseudo meaning 'false' and the Latin
word scientia meaning 'knowledge'. Although the term 'pseudoscience' has been in use
since at least the late 18th century (used in 1796 in reference to alchemy), the concept
of pseudoscience as distinct from real or proper science appears to have emerged in
the mid-19th century. Among the first recorded uses of the word 'pseudo-science' was
in 1844 in the Northern Journal of Medicine, I 387: 'That opposite kind of innovation
which pronounces what has been recognized as a branch of science, to have been a
pseudo-science, composed merely of so-called facts, connected together by
misapprehensions under the disguise of principles'. During the 20th century the word
was used rhetorically to ascribe to an action falsely maintaining scientific status.
Though from time to time the usage of the word occurred in a more formal, technical
manner around a perceived threat to individual and institutional security in a social
and cultural setting. The use of vague, exaggerated or unprovable claims, an overreliance on confirmation rather than rigorous attempts at refutation, a lack of openness
to evaluation by other experts, and a general absence of systematic processes to
rationally develop theories often characterize pseudoscience. The term pseudoscience
is often considered inherently pejorative, because it suggests that something is being

inaccurately or even deceptively portrayed as science. Accordingly, those labelled as

practicing or advocating pseudoscience normally dispute the characterization.
A field, practice, or body of knowledge can reasonably be called pseudoscientific
when it is presented as consistent with the norms of scientific research, though in fact
it demonstrably fails to meet these norms. Science is also distinguishable from
revelation, theology, or spirituality in that it offers insight into the physical world
obtained by empirical research and testing. Commonly held beliefs in popular science
may not meet the criteria of science. 'Pop' or popular science may blur the divide
between science and pseudoscience among the general public and may also involve
science fiction. Pseudoscientific beliefs are widespread, even among public school
science teachers and newspaper reporters.
The demarcation problem between science and pseudoscience has ethical and political
implications as well as philosophical and scientific issues. Differentiating science
from pseudoscience has practical implications in the case of health care, expert
testimony, environmental policies, and science education. Distinguishing scientific
facts and theories from pseudoscientific beliefs such as those found in astrology,
medical quackery, and occult beliefs combined with scientific concepts, is part of
science education and scientific literacy.
Examples of pseudoscience concepts, proposed as scientific when they are not
scientific, are creation science, intelligent design, orgone energy, N-rays, ch'i, L. Ron
Hubbard's engram theory, enneagram, iridology, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator,
New Age psychotherapies (e.g., rebirthing therapy), reflexology, applied kinesiology,
astrology, biorhythms, facilitated communication, plant perception, extrasensory
perception (ESP), Velikovsky's ideas, von Dniken's ideas, Sitchen's ideas,
anthropometry, post-normal science, craniometry, graphology, metoposcopy,
personology, physiognomy, acupuncture, alchemy, cellular memory, Lysenkoism,
naturopathy, reiki, Rolfing, therapeutic touch, ayurvedic medicine, and homeopathy.
Robert T. Carroll stated: 'Pseudoscientists claim to base their theories on empirical
evidence and they may even use some scientific methods, though often their
understanding of a controlled experiment is inadequate. Many pseudoscientists relish
being able to point out the consistency of their ideas with known facts or with
predicted consequences, but they do not recognize that such consistency is not proof
of anything. It is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition that a good
scientific theory be consistent with the facts.

SPIRITUAL MAGIC
So far, I have spent some time considering the first of the two views within the term
'magic', namely the view which sees the magical approach in terms of a universal
sympathy or connectedness within the universe, where if something is done here a
result happens somewhere else. I now want to consider the second view of magic that
sees magic as collaboration with spirits who cause the desired effect. In this second
view, we move away from the idea of magic as a proto-science and move instead to a
magic that focuses on incorporating prevalent beliefs about spirits or deities.

This second view of magic involves the intervention of souls or more usually, spirits:
incorporeal beings with their own consciousness and intelligence. Believers in spirits
will often describe a whole panoply of beings of many different kinds, sometimes
organized into a hierarchy. We have already seen that there was a widespread
perspective suggesting that spirit-beings inhabited plants, animals and objects. The
belief in this second area of magic is that the magic practitioner, such as the Shaman,
is capable of contacting these spirits, who in turn can work magic for the practitioner.
These spirit-beings may sometimes be regarded as the souls or 'spirits' of the dead and
so necromancy is a practice that claims to involve the summoning up of and
conversation with the souls of the dead. This is sometimes done simply to commune
with deceased loved ones; it can also be done to gain information from the souls, as a
type of divination; or to command the aid of those souls in accomplishing some goal,
as part of casting a spell. This kind of belief concerning souls [Category B] could
easily be extended to a similar belief and practice concerning spirits, [Category C], be
they minor spirits like fairies [Category Ci], or major spirits like demons, [Category
Cii].
In European folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits
(sometimes referred to simply as 'familiars') were spiritual entities believed to assist
witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to the records of the
time, they would appear in numerous guises, often as an animal, but also at times as a
human or humanoid figure and they were described as 'clearly defined, threedimensional forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound' by
those alleging to have come into contact with them, unlike later descriptions of
'ghosts' with their smoky, undefined forms. When they served witches, they were
often thought to be malevolent, but when working for cunning-folk they were often
thought of as benevolent (although there was some ambiguity in both cases). The
former were often categorised as demons, while the latter were more commonly
thought of and described as fairies. The main purpose of familiars was to serve the
witch, providing protection for him/her as they come into their new powers.
In some cases, the magical practitioner made an agreement or entered a pact with their
familiar spirit. The length of time that the witch or cunning person worked with their
familiar spirit varied between a few weeks through to a number of decades. In most
cases, the magical practitioner would conjure up their familiar spirit when they
needed their assistance, although there are many different ways that they did this: the
Essex witch Joan Cunny claimed, in 1589, that she had to kneel down within a circle
and pray to Satan for her familiar to appear while the Wiltshire cunning woman Anne
Bodenham described, in 1653, that she conjured her familiars by reading books. In
some rarer cases there were accounts where the familiars would appear at times when
they were unwanted and not called upon, for instance the Huntingdonshire witch
Elizabeth Chandler noted, in 1646, that she could not control when her two familiars,
named Beelzebub and Trullibub, appeared to her, and had prayed to God that He
would 'deliver her therefrom'.
The idea of a familiar spirit seems to be a variation of the animist theme [Category
Bii], discussed above. Sometimes however, these animistic beliefs continued to be
held even in the context of a dominant polytheistic or a monotheistic world-view - but
as residues of an earlier age. Thus, within Celtic paganism (see below) there was both
a range of deities gods and goddesses that existed alongside more local souls or

fairy folk spirits in streams, wells and trees. Even after these polytheistic sites and
practices had been largely Christianised during the 5th and 6th centuries and thus
replaced by a monotheistic view, the idea of spirits possessing animals or humans
remained, both in this concept of familiar spirits and in the idea of the existence of a
panoply of spiritual beings, such as demons, angels, cherubim, seraphim and so on.
But since they are a remnant of an earlier stage of development, such ideas were
either accommodated within the dominant ideology as in the case of the panoply of
spirits, or strongly condemned, as in the case of fairy-folk or work with unclean
spirits, evidenced by the witch hunts during the Reformation period.
The belief and use of spirits and souls in this second form of magical practice means
that this approach is not materialistic, [Category A], but neither is it theistic it is not
referring to gods, goddesses or deities, so it does not belong to Category D. However,
it is spiritual, but pre-theistic in its conceptions and belongs to Categories B and C.
I would include mediums, spiritists, channelling, sances and the conjuring up of
spirits in this area of spiritual magic. This is the realm of Christopher Marlowe's 'Dr.
Faustus' and ghost stories like those of M. R. James. In popular culture, we are in the
realm of Harry Potter and to a great degree also, Philip Pullman's 'His dark materials'
trilogy as well as being in the realm of Fairy stories and Arthur Miller's 'The
Crucible'.
Since the twentieth century a number of magical practitioners, including adherents of
the Neopagan religion of Wicca, have begun to utilise the concept of familiars, due to
their association with older forms of magic.

THEORIES ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF MAGIC TO RELIGION

Magic and religion are categories of beliefs and systems of knowledge used within
societies. While generally considered distinct categories in western cultures, the
interactions, similarities and differences have been central to the study of magic for
many theorists in sociology and anthropology, including Frazer, Mauss, S. J.
Tambiah, Malinowski and Isabelle Sarginson.
In 'A General Theory of Magic', Marcel Mauss classifies magic as a social
phenomenon, akin to religion and science, but yet a distinct category. In practice,
magic bears a strong resemblance to religion. Both use similar types of rites,
materials, social roles and relationships to accomplish aims and engender belief. They
both operate on similar principles, in particular those of consecration and sanctity of
objects and places, interaction with supernatural powers mediated by an expert,
employment of symbolism, sacrifice, purification and representation in rites and the
importance of tradition and continuation of knowledge. Magic and religion also share
a collective character and totality of belief. The rules and powers of each are
determined by the community's ideals and beliefs and so may slowly evolve.
Additionally neither religion nor magic supports partial belief. Belief in one aspect of
the phenomena necessitates belief in the whole and each incorporates structural
loopholes to accommodate contradictions.

The distinction Mauss draws between religion and magic is both of sentiment and
practice. He portrays magic as an element of pre-modern societies and in many
respects an antithesis of religion. Magic is secretive and isolated and rarely performed
publicly in order to protect and to preserve occult (hidden) knowledge. On the other
hand, religion is predictable and is usually performed openly in order to impart
knowledge to the community. While these two phenomena do share many ritual
forms, Mauss concludes that 'a magical rite is.private, secret, mysterious and
approaches the limit of prohibited rites.' In practical terms, magic differs from religion
in desired outcome: religion seeks to satisfy moral and metaphysical ends, whereas
magic is a functional art that often seeks to accomplish tangible results. In this respect
magic resembles technology and science in a pre-scientific and pre-technological
age. Belief in magic and religion is diffuse, universal, and removed from the origin of
the practice. Yet, the similarity between these social phenomena is limited, as science
is based in experimentation and development, while magic is an 'a priori belief.'
Mauss concludes that though magical beliefs and rites are most analogous to religion,
magic remains a social phenomenon that is distinct from both religion and science,
with its own characteristic rules, acts and aims.

WESTERN MAGIC
In general, the 20th century has seen a sharp rise in public interest in various forms of
magical practice together with the foundation of a number of traditions and
organisations. In England, a further revival of interest in magic was heralded by the
repeal of the last Witchcraft Act in 1951. In 1954 Gerald Gardner published a book,
'Witchcraft Today', in which he claimed to reveal the existence of a witch-cult that
dated back to pre-Christian Europe. Although many of Gardner's claims have since
come under intensive criticism from sources both within and outside of the Neopagan
community, his works remain the most important founding stone of Wicca.
Gardner's newly created religion and many others, took off in the atmosphere of the
1960s and 1970s, when the counterculture of the hippies also spawned another period
of renewed interest in magic, divination and other occult practices. The various
branches of Neopaganism and other Earth religions that have emerged since Gardner's
publication tend to follow a pattern in combining the practices of magic and religion,
although this combination is not exclusive to them. Following the trend of magic
associated with counterculture, some feminists launched an independent revival of
goddess worship. This brought them into contact with the Gardnerian tradition of
magical religion (or religious magic) and deeply influenced that tradition in return.
In the West adherents believe in or practice various forms of magic. The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley's Thelema and their subsequent
offshoots, influenced by Eliphas Levi, are most commonly associated with the
resurgence of magical tradition in the English-speaking world of the 20th century.
Other, similar resurgences took place at roughly the same time, centred in France and
Germany. The western traditions acknowledging the natural elements, the seasons and
the practitioner's relationship with the Earth, Gaia, or a primary Goddess, have
derived at least in part from these magical groups and are mostly considered
Neopagan. (See Category Diii, Panentheism below). Western magical traditions
include hermetic magic and its many offshoots, predominantly inspired by the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as well as Wicca and some other Neopagan
religions. Definitions, concepts and uses of magic tend to vary even within magical
traditions and indeed often between individuals. Wicca is one of the more publicly
known traditions within Neopaganism, a magical religion inspired by medieval
witchcraft, with influences including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and
Crowley. Wiccans and witches define magic in many different ways and use it for a
number of different purposes. Despite that diversity of opinion, the result upon the
practitioner is generally perceived as a positive one.

The approaches and practices of shamanism, medicine men, use of familiar spirits,
and witchcraft are all aspects, perspectives and developments within a spiritual magic
framework that belong to Category B or C or both. If the approach acknowledges a
deity or deities, then it belongs to Category D. On the other hand, as we have seen,
Astrology, Augury, Cartomancy, Chiromancy, Dowsing, Fortune telling, Geomancy, I
Ching, Omens, Scrying, Extispicy and Tarot reading are aspects of sympathetic magic
that are not spiritual and belong to Category A.

MAGIC AND SUPERSTITION

As we have seen, residues and elements of magical beliefs and practices may continue
today, especially evident in the form of what we would often call superstitions or a
belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without
any process in the physical world linking the two events. The word 'superstition' is
often used pejoratively to refer to practices (e.g., Voodoo) other than the one
prevailing in a given society, (e.g. Christianity). But they may be embedded and
assimilated within the later dominant religious tradition such that the prevailing
religion may contain just as many supernatural beliefs as the perspective it seeks to
oppose. Superstition is also a word commonly applied to beliefs and practices
surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future
events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events.
But as far as we are concerned in this essay, magic is not a category in and of itself,
but a subject a perspective and world-view to be categorised, as we might categorise
Islam, Christianity or Ancestor veneration, in terms of
A-spiritual materialistic realm
The realm of the soul
The realm of spirits
Theism or the realm of deities
Transendantism
Having considered and defined the material realm and the realms of souls and then of
spirits and their sub-categories, with asides on shamanism, magic, proto-science and
pseudo-science, we can now go on to our next broad category: Theism.

CATEGORY D - THEISM
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists. In a more
specific sense, theism often refers to the Christian monotheistic God and that God's
relationship to the universe. Theism, in this latter sense, conceives of this one God as
personal, present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the
universe. The use of the word theism as indicating a particular Christian doctrine of
monotheism arose in the wake of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century
to contrast with the then emerging deism that contended that this single God, though
transcendent and supreme, did not intervene in the natural world and could be known
rationally but not via revelation. However, for the purposes of this essay, I revert back
to the earlier, broader sense of the term referring to the belief that at least one deity
exists.
The term 'theism' derives from the Greek 'theos' meaning 'god' and was first used by
Ralph Cudworth (161788). Atheism is the rejection of theism in this broadest sense;
i.e. the rejection of belief that there is even one deity. In contrast, the view whereby a
person does not know whether a deity exists or not is called agnosticism and this can
be compatible with theism and with atheism. Put simply, theism and atheism deal
with belief whilst agnosticism deals with absence of knowledge; therefore they are not
mutually exclusive as they deal with different domains.
Theistic beliefs often emerge as developments from and as an extension of the earlier
views concerning souls and spirits that I have considered above and further
developments or distinctions may take place within this broad category of theism
itself, such that we can create a number of categories within the general theistic
category. These include polytheism, monotheism, pantheism and penentheism.
We need to remind ourselves again of the qualities that differentiate or distinguish
'spirit' from 'deity' or 'god' or 'goddess'. Spirits, gods and goddesses are all conceived
as personal incorporeal spirit-beings that have an objective, real existence. From the
panoply of spirit beings, or from noble and heroic souls, there may arise some or even
one single spirit that is conceived of as being an omnipotent creator or originator
and/or ruler and controller of a particular domain such as the weather, or the sea, or
the moon or an omnipotent creator, originator and/or ruler or controller over the
whole universe. Such a spirit or spirits have transcendent powers powers above and
beyond nature. Such an incorporeal soul, spirit-being or beings may then become a
principal 'object' of belief and trust. Reverent honour, love and devotion is often given
to such a spirit-being or beings, which is expressed in prayers and ceremonies. Such a
soul, spirit-being or beings may be considered as immortal. It is this type of superior,
transcendent, ruling, often immortal personal spirit-being or beings that are in effect
deified, or accorded the status of god or goddess, distinguishing them from any lesser
souls or other personal spirit beings. Thus in Christianity, the devil or angels are
portrayed as powerful personal spirit-beings, but are not considered as gods.
Gods and goddesses then are:
a) Superior or transcendent personal incorporeal being or beings above other souls,
spirits, humans or animals.

b) Conceived as all-powerful, all-knowing originator(s) and/or ruler(s)/controller(s) of

a sphere or domain. This domain may range from trees or water, to weather, to the
whole universe.
c) Principal 'object(s)' of faith and trust regarding this sphere or domain.
d) Given reverential honour, love and devotion: worshiped, idealized, or followed.
e) May be immortal
I want to consider now some of the sub-categories under this broad heading of theism.
CATEGORY Di - POLYTHEISM
Polytheism is the understanding that there is a multiplicity or plurality of deities that
are assembled into a pantheon ('all of the gods'). Accompanying such views, different
cultures have their own different formulations and rituals concerning their deities.
Often, these are not separate, isolated, equal deities, but rather they are arranged into
some sort of hierarchical interaction with each other. Thus Zeus may be the 'father of
the gods' for example. The deities of polytheistic spirituality and religions are
portrayed as complex personages of greater or lesser status, with individual skills,
needs, desires and histories. These gods and goddesses are often seen as similar to
humans (anthropomorphic) in their personality traits, but with additional individual
powers, abilities, knowledge or perceptions.
Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs, prevalent in most
folk religions, that I considered earlier, [Category B]. The gods and goddesses of
polytheism are in many cases the highest order of a continuum of incorporeal beings
that may include the souls of ancestors, or spirit beings such as demons, imps and
suchlike. In some cases these incorporeal beings are divided into either celestial or
underworld classes.
Hard Polytheists believe that the gods and goddesses are distinct, separate, real divine
beings [Category Di] as opposed to being mere psychological archetypes or
metaphorical personifications of natural forces [Category A]. Hard polytheists reject
the idea that 'all gods are one God', [Category Dii, Diii, Div, E]. It is a misconception
that Hard Polytheists consider that the deities of all cultures are equally real; that is a
theological position more correctly called integrational polytheism or omnitheism: an
acceptance of the legitimacy of all gods.
In contrast, Soft Polytheism holds that the gods and goddesses may be aspects of only
one God, [Category Dii], psychological archetypes or metaphorical personifications
of natural forces, [Category A]. Soft Polytheism is prevalent in New Age and
syncretic currents of Neopaganism, as are psychological interpretations of deities as
archetypes of the human psyche. English occultist Dion Fortune was a major
contributor to the popularisation of soft polytheism. In her novel, 'The Sea Priestess',
she wrote, 'All gods are one god, and all goddesses are one goddess, and there is one
initiator.' This phrase is very popular among some Neopagans (notably, Wiccans) and
often incorrectly believed to be just a recent work of fiction. However, Fortune indeed
quoted from an ancient source, the Latin novel 'The Golden Ass of Apuleius'.

Fortune's soft polytheist compromise between monotheism and hard polytheism has
been described as 'pantheism' (Greek: pan 'all' and theos 'god'), [Category Diii].
However, 'Pantheism' has a longer history of usage to refer to a view of an allencompassing immanent divine. Neopaganism often blends polytheism with
pantheism [Category Diii], or panentheism, [Category Div].
Polytheism was the typical form of spirituality and religion during the Bronze and
Iron Ages. It is well documented in the historical religions of Classical Antiquity,
especially in Greek and Roman cultures. Some well-known historical polytheistic
pantheons include the Sumerian deities, the Egyptian deities and the ancient Greek
and Roman gods and goddesses. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse
sir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec deities and many others. It persists into
the modern period in traditions such as Hinduism, some aspects of Buddhism,
Shintoism, Chinese folk religion, etc., and it has been revived in currents of
Neopaganism in the post-Christian West.
Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but can be Henotheists:
specializing in the worship of one particular deity. Other polytheists can be
Kathenotheists: worshipping different deities at different times. Today, most historical
polytheistic religions are pejoratively referred to as 'mythology', though the stories
that these cultures tell about their deities should be distinguished from their worship
or religious practice. For instance deities portrayed as being in conflict in the
narratives would nevertheless still be worshipped sometimes in the same temple side
by side, illustrating the distinction in the devotees mind between the narrative and the
reality.
It is speculated that there was once a Proto-Indo-European spirituality and religion,
from which the religions of the various Indo-European peoples derive and that this
spirituality was an essentially naturalistic religion with a soul, spirit or spirits
presiding over places and things, [Categories B and C]. An example of a spiritual or
religious notion from this shared past is the concept of dyeus or chief deity, which is
attested to in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons
tended to grow over time. Deities that were first worshipped as the patrons of cities or
places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories.
Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder culture's pantheon into a newer
one. Cultural exchange could lead to 'the same' deity being renowned and revered in
two different places but under different names, as with the Greeks, Etruscans and
Romans. It could also lead to the introduction of elements of a 'foreign' spirituality or
religion into a local cult, as with Egyptian Osiris worship brought to ancient Greece.
The presence of a full polytheistic religion, complete with a ritual cult conducted by a
priestly caste, requires a high level of organization and is not present in every culture.
Explicit polytheism in contemporary folk religion is found in African traditional
religion as well as African diasporic religions.
In the late 20th century, 'paganism', or 'Neopaganism', became widely used in
reference to adherents of various New Religious Movements including Wicca. As
such, various modern scholars have begun to apply the term 'pagan' to three groups of
separate faiths: a) Historical Polytheism (such as Celtic polytheism, Norse Paganism,
and Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism - also called Hellenismos), b)

Folk/ethnic/Indigenous religions (such as Chinese folk religion and African traditional

religion), and c) Neopaganism (such as Wicca and Germanic Neopaganism).

PAGANISM AND POLYTHEISM AN ASIDE

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning 'country dweller', 'rustic') has often become a
blanket term with negative connotations typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic,
indigenous polytheistic religious traditions. It is primarily used in a historical context,
referring to Greco-Roman polytheism as well as referring to the polytheistic traditions
of Europe and North Africa before Christianisation. In a wider sense, it is extended to
contemporary religions, to include most of the Eastern religions and the indigenous
traditions of the Americas, Central Asia, Australia and Africa; as well as nonAbrahamic folk religion in general.
The adoption of the word 'paganus' by Latin Christians as an all-embracing, pejorative
term for polytheists was an unforeseen and singularly long-lasting victory within
Christianity in successfully demeaning the pervious religious system, by using a word
of Latin slang that was originally devoid of religious meaning, to describe it. This
occurred only in the Latin West and in connection with the Latin Church. Elsewhere,
'Hellene' or 'gentile' remained the word for 'pagan', and 'paganos' continued as a
purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. For these
reasons, ethnologists avoid the term 'paganism,' with its uncertain and varied
meanings, and negative connotations when they refer to traditional or historic faiths,
preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, pantheism, or animism.
In this essay, I will use a more narrow definition of paganism that will not include any
of the world religions but which rather restricts the term to local or rural currents that
are not organized as civil religions. With this in mind, let's take a look at a
polytheistic approach, namely Celtic polytheism.

CELTIC POLYTHEISM
Celtic polytheism, which is also commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the
religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe
now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE. Celtic polytheism
was one of a larger group of Iron Age polytheistic religions of the Indo-European
family. It comprised a large degree of variation both geographically and
chronologically, although behind this variety, broad structural similarities can be
detected allowing there to be a basic religious homogeneity amongst the Celtic
peoples.
The Celtic pantheon consists of numerous recorded theonyms, both from GrecoRoman ethnography and from epigraphy. Among the most prominent ones are
Teutatis, Taranis and Lugus. Figures from medieval Irish mythology have also been
adduced by comparative mythology, interpreted as euphemerized versions of preChristian insular deities. The most salient feature of Celtic religion as reflected in
Roman historiography is their extensive practice of human sacrifice, According to

Greek and Roman accounts, in Gaul, Britain and Ireland, there was a priestly caste of
'magico-religious specialists' known as the druids, although very little is definitely
known about them. Following the Roman Empire's conquest of Gaul (5851 BCE)
and southern Britannia (43 CE), Celtic religious practices began to display elements
of Romanisation, resulting in a syncretic Gallo-Roman culture, with its own religious
traditions and its own large set of deities, such as Cernunnos, Artio, Telesphorus, etc.
In the later 5th and the 6th centuries, monotheistic Christianity became the dominant
faith in the Celtic area, supplanting these earlier religious traditions. In many cases,
when the Roman Empire took control of Celtic lands and Romanised their societies,
earlier Iron Age sacred sites were adapted and used again with Roman temples being
built on the same sites. However, a legacy was left in many of the Celtic nations,
influencing later mythology, and serving as the basis for a new religious movement in
the 20th century: Celtic Neopaganism.
Celtic religion was polytheistic: believing in many deities, both gods and goddesses,
some of which were venerated only in a small, local area, but there were others whose
worship had a wider geographical distribution. The names of over two hundred of
these deities have survived to us today, although it is possible that some of these
names were different titles or epithets used for the same deity.
The Celts were also animists, (see Category Bii above), believing that all aspects of
the natural world contained incorporeal souls and that these souls could be
communicated with. Often, these souls were deified accorded the status of gods, and
were often worshiped, so that places such as rocks, streams, mountains and trees may
have had shrines or offerings devoted to a deity that resided there. These Celtic
soul/deities would have been local deities, known and worshiped by inhabitants living
near to the shrine itself and not pan-Celtic as were some of the polytheistic gods.
Among the most popular sites for the veneration of soul/deities were trees: the oak,
ash and thorn being considered to be the most sacred. The importance of trees in
Celtic religion is shown by the fact that the very name of the Eburonian tribe contains
a reference to the yew tree and that names like Mac Cuilinn (son of holly) and Mac
Ibar (son of yew) appear in Irish myths. In Ireland, wisdom was symbolised by the
salmon that feed on the hazelnuts from the trees that surround the well of wisdom
(Tobar Segais). Evidence suggests that amongst the Celts, offerings to the gods were
made throughout the landscape both the natural and the domestic. At times they
worshipped in constructed temples and shrines, evidence for which have been
unearthed across the Celtic world by archaeologists, although according to GrecoRoman accounts, they also worshipped in areas of the natural world that were held to
be sacred, namely in groves of trees. Celtic burial practices, which included the
burying of food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead, is consistent with what we
have already said earlier concerning belief in an incorporeal soul that continues life
after the death of the body.

NATURE WORSHIP
In nature worship, a nature deity is a deity that is in charge of forces of nature such as
for example, a water deity, vegetation deity, sky deity, solar deity, fire deity or deity
of any other naturally occurring phenomena such as a death deity or fertility deity.
The deity is therefore revealed and manifest in natural forces and can have

characteristics of the mother goddess, Mother Nature or Lord of the animals. Nature
worship therefore covers a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that
focus on natural phenomenon where deities are viewed as revealed and manifest in
these natural forces. Common to most forms of nature worship is a spiritual focus on
the individual's connection to the natural world coupled with reverence towards it. It
differs then from animism in that in animism, forces of nature, objects, animals and
plants and humans are all seen as having a soul, with the human soul being just one
among many diverse equals. In nature worship however, we have the emergence of
deities that are either incorporeal souls that are understood to have some sort of heroic
or noble quality or some sort of power and strength or are considered to have risen in
a hierarchy of power and authority above others or who are spirits: powerful separate
incorporeal spirit-beings.
We have seen that deities are:
a) Superior or transcendent personal incorporeal being or beings above other souls,
spirits, humans and animals.
b) Conceived as all-powerful, all-knowing originator(s) and/or ruler(s)/controller(s) of
a sphere or domain. This domain may range from trees or water, to weather, to the
whole universe.
c) Principal 'object(s)' of faith and trust regarding this sphere or domain.
d) Given reverential honour, love and devotion: worshiped, idealized, or followed.
e) May be immortal
Natural phenomena such as lightning, floods and storms may be attributed to these
deities who may be thought to be the authorities or controllers of various aspects of
human life, such as birth or the afterlife. These deities are depicted in a variety of
forms and are sometimes expressed as having human form and are commonly
assumed to have personalities and to possess consciousness, intellects, desires and
emotions similar to those of humans. Pascal Boyer argued that while there is a wide
array of transcendent concepts found around the world, in general, transcendent
beings tend to behave much like people.
Constructing deities (and spirits) into beings that have qualities like human beings,
(anthropomorphism), is one of the oldest characteristics of religion. He cites examples
from polytheistic Greek mythology that in his opinion comes across like a modern
soap opera more than any other religious system. Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie
contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world
because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud suggested that god
concepts are projections of one's father. Likewise, mile Durkheim was one of the
earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life. In line with
this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in
larger groups, they may have created deities as a means of enforcing morality. Small
groups can enforce morality by social/group forces such as gossip or reputation,
however it is much harder to enforce morality by trying to use such social forces in
much larger groups. He indicates that by including ever-watchful deities, spirits and

souls, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building
more cooperative social groups. Even so, there is also a trend in some aspects of later
religious groups such as Islam and Christianity, to strictly avoid all
anthropomorphization of the concept of God, because it is seen as demeaning to the
transcendence of God.
These deities may remain separate and individual even isolated there may be little
or no idea of them interacting in a co-ordinated or hierarchical way. As with souls in
animistic belief, these deities may exist pretty well as individual equals covering their
own domain.
According to a number of Greco-Roman writers such as Julius Caesar, Cicero, Tacitus
and Pliny the Elder, Gaulish and British society held the magico-religious specialists
known as druids in high esteem. Their roles and responsibilities differed somewhat
between the different accounts, but Caesar's account portrayed them as being
concerned with 'divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public
and the interpretation of ritual questions.' He also claimed that they were responsible
for officiating at human sacrifices, such as the wicker man burnings. Nonetheless, a
number of historians have criticised these accounts, believing them to be biased or
inaccurate: there is the possibility that these claims may have been used as a sort of
propaganda to justify the Roman conquest of these territories. There are only very few
recorded archaeological discoveries which preserve evidence of human sacrifice and
thus most contemporary historians tend to regard human sacrifice as rare within Celtic
cultures. Vernacular Irish sources also referred to the druids, portraying them not only
as priests but also as sorcerers who had transcendent powers which they used for
cursing and divination and who opposed the coming of Christianity. Various
historians and archaeologists have interpreted the druids in different ways: Peter
Berresford Ellis for instance believed them to be the equivalents of the Indian
Brahmin caste, whilst Anne Ross believed that they were essentially tribal priests,
having more in common with the shamans of tribal societies than with the classical
philosophers. Ronald Hutton meanwhile held a particularly sceptical attitude to many
claims made about them and he purported the view that the evidence available was of
such a suspicious nature that 'we can know virtually nothing of certainty about the
ancient Druids, so that although they certainly existed they function more or less
as legendary figures.' The druids were said by Caesar to have believed in
reincarnation and transmigration of the soul along with astronomy and the nature and
power of the gods. In popular media, polytheism is the realm of Anthony Schaffer's
'The Wicker Man'.
A common factor in later mythologies from Christianised Celtic nations was the
otherworld. This was the realm of the fairy folk and other spiritual beings, who would
entice humans into their realm. Sometimes this otherworld was claimed to exist
underground, whilst at other times it was said to lie far to the west. Several scholar
shave suggested that the otherworld was the Celtic afterlife, though there is no direct
evidence to prove this.

For our purposes, if a spiritual perspective embraces the idea of trees, waterfalls and
groves having 'souls' then it falls into Category Bii above. If on the other hand, it
considers that independent spirits inhabit trees, waterfalls and groves, then it falls into

Category Cii above. However, if some of these incorporeal beings, be they souls or
spirits, are considered as superior or more powerful or noble than others, controlling a
particular sphere or domain and worshipped, honoured and venerated then they
become deified and the perspective belongs to this category Di polytheism.
Paganism, variously defined, may fall into any one or more of these categories
according to how complex and compound the system is.
The sky has important religious significance and most polytheistic religions have a
deity or deities whose portfolio includes or is even limited to the sky or the heavens.
This position is often reserved for the deity who reigns over the others, or at least is
one of the most powerful, and incorporates the concept of the Sky Father, in contrast
to an Earth Mother or Heavenly Mother. The sky father or heavenly father is a
recurring theme in spirituality and religion all over the world. The sky father can be
the complement of the earth mother and appears in some creation stories, many of
which are Indo-European or ancient Near Eastern. A sky father is often also a solar
deity, a god identified with the sun, while in contrast, Shintoism has a sun goddess. In
some religious traditions or movements Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother
in Heaven) is the wife and feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.
Various religious groups, to one degree or another, promulgate teachings about the
Heavenly Mother.

CATEGORY Dii MONOTHEISM

Monotheism (from Greek monos, 'single' and theos, 'god') is the belief that one and
only one god exists - in contrast to polytheism, which as I have indicated is the belief
that several deities exist. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith,
Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. Other forms of
monotheism include Unitarianism and Deism.
Monotheism is often contrasted with Ditheism or Theistic Dualism - where there are
two deities. Often, in such dualistic theologies the two deities are not of equal rank
and the role of the one of the deities may be closer to that of Satan in Christian
theology rather than a diarch where the deities are on equal terms. For our purposes,
Dualism or Ditheism is a sub-category of Category Di Polytheism, as described
above regardless of any ranking of such deities. The Supreme, Ultimate Power and
Control of one deity amongst other deities is not the factor that defines monotheism.
As soon as it is considered that there is another deity: another god or goddess then
we have moved to polytheism, even if one deity in this pantheon of deities ultimately
has the supreme power. In a pantheon of gods and goddesses, all the gods and
goddesses may bend their will either voluntarily or otherwise to say, Zeus or Odin,
but despite this overarching power and control of one god or goddess, such a system
is nevertheless polytheistic (Category Di). Monotheism is defined by the idea that
there is One God Alone the Originator, Sustainer and Controller of all that is.
Monotheism can nevertheless involve a variety of conceptions of this One God:
Deism posits the existence of a single God: the Designer of the designs in Nature. But
some Deists believe in an impersonal God that does not intervene in the world, which
suggests a position that more properly belongs to Category A above because we seem

to be dealing with Ultimate Forces rather than an Ultimate, incorporeal personal

Being. Other Deists believe that God intervenes through Providence through the
various situations and events that occur in people's lives. If by doing so, the deist has
moved to a position whereby they believe in an incorporeal Being that has
personhood, will and intention, then they belong here in Category Dii. If on the other
hand they simply mean that the universe is so physically organised that through
natural principles, properties and laws it accomplishes its purpose, then we are again
probably in Category A. Our categorising here hinges on the word 'intervene'. It begs
the questions What or Who intervenes? What is meant by 'intervention' does it
involve a sense of purpose, plan and intention? If there is purpose, plan and intention
inherent in any 'intervention', does this also mean that there is choice, will and
personhood in the intervener? The answers to these questions will determine what
category is selected. Denial of personhood takes us to Category A. Acceptance of an
Ultimate personal spirit-being brings us here to category Dii.
Monism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, which encompasses pantheism
(Category Diii below) and panentheism (Category Div below) and at the same time it
embraces the concept of a personal god. This is a compound belief system that in an
overview of its general and broad perspective would span more than one category.
Substance monotheism, found in some indigenous African religions, holds that the
many gods (Category Di, polytheism above) are different forms of a single underlying
substance. To categorise this properly we have to ask what is meant by the word
'substance'. If by 'substance' is meant one incorporeal Spirit with personhood,
(Category Dii), then again we have a complex, compound system spanning a couple
of categories. If by 'substance', is meant an impersonal force or atomistic fundamental
unifying particle, then we are in Category A. Alternatively, if the system finally rests
with the emphasis on this one underlying Spirit as opposed to the many gods then
the system may belong here in Category Dii, as opposed to category Di. In such a case
we have to ask what is meant by 'many gods'. If they are objectively existing personal
spirit-beings that have been deified, then this approach belongs to Di, polytheism. If
'many gods' means metaphorical and symbolic pointers to or aspects of an actually
existing Ultimate Spirit-being, then the system belongs here in Dii, monotheism.
Trinitarian monotheism is the Christian doctrine of belief in one God who is three
distinct persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit existing in
Hypostatical Union. In this system, everything proceeds from and is subservient to
God the Father and as such, this belongs to Category Dii though there are elements of
polytheism, Di above. However the emphasis in Trinitarian monotheism is that there
is only one God not three gods. It is not surprising that Christianity is such a
complex and compound religious system. It has accommodated and absorbed many
earlier traditions as we have just seen with regard to polytheism for example. It also
contains elements of categories Cii in its acceptance of spirits such as Angels and
demons, and category Bi, the human soul especially where saints or the Virgin Mary
are asked to intercede at the Throne of Grace and/or where there is a belief in an
afterlife in heaven or hell. This shows us the importance of clearly stating and
defining what it is that we are seeking to categorise. The categorical descriptions that
we will get for 'Christianity' are different from what we get for 'the Christian God'.
We will return to this important issue later.

Some scholars, such as Wilhelm Schmidt, have argued for a primeval monotheism
from which polytheistic religions later developed. But it is just as easy to see how
polytheistic gods can become merged into one super-god one major deity
especially the sky father or heavenly father deity though the 'maleness' of this deity
is by no means a foregone necessity.
In a monotheistic system, catastrophes such as floods or famine or storms are
attributed ultimately to this single deity. The agents may be other spirits angels or
demons but such spirits act under the auspices of this one Supreme deity. Thus
catastrophes may be understood as displays of anger by this deity, or tokens of
displeasure or judgement. The monotheistic deity, who is usually conceptualised as
male, is also in many ways distant especially in terms of transcendent moral purity
or holiness. The monotheistic deity is usually the (one and only) transcendent sky
deity and is often imagined as standing above the earth or universe and ordering its
affairs. In Christianity it is also easy to see how the church gave the Virgin Mary
some aspects of role of the Heavenly Mother that is found in polytheistic approaches,
though of course she is in no way deified. This transcendence also may give us a
sense of distance between this monotheistic deity and ourselves.
In monotheism then, we have one and only one deity an objectively existing
Ultimate Spirit-being with personhood - that is the originator and controller of all,
transcendent in morality and in some ways, in spatial distance a sky deity standing
alone always maintaining a distance between Creator and created, yet also
intervening in providential ways revealing tokens of wrath or favour. Very often
conceptualised in anthropomorphic form usually as a Wise Old Man or Stern Judge
or Loving Father this deity not only has personhood but various attributes or
personal characteristics or qualities. These qualities are often reflected in the names
ascribed to the deity Love, Truth, Mercy, Justice, Father and so on as in for
example the 99 Names of God in Islam.
As a counter to this remoteness, monotheistic (Category Dii), pantheistic (Category
Diii), or panentheistic (Category Div) approaches all express the idea of immanence.
Immanence refers to the presence of the deity, in which the deity is seen to be
manifested in or encompassing of the material world. Thus immanence is often
contrasted with transcendence, in which the deity is seen to be outside or above the
material world. Immanence is also often associated with mysticism and mystical sects
but most religions have elements of both immanent and transcendent belief in their
doctrines. Thus for example, in Christianity, we have God the Father who is seen as
Transcendent and somewhat distant. Then we have Jesus the Son - God in the second
Person - who was incarnated here but after his death, was resurrected and is now
ascended to heaven and thus also distant. But Jesus gave the Holy Spirit God in the
third Person who indwells the born again believer thus giving immanence. Thus,
in a Christian interpretation, the born again believer has a physical or material body,
an incorporeal soul as part of their essential nature and the Holy Spirit residing in
them. Once again we see the compound nature of the Christian system.

CATEGORY Diii - PANTHEISM

Pantheism goes beyond the idea of immanence beyond the idea that the deity may
reside in us: to suggest that the deity is expressed in all that exists such that everything
that exists is the deity. This is the opposite viewpoint to the remoteness and distance
that can arise from an emphasis on transcendence within monotheism. Pantheism then
is the view that the Universe (Nature and material existents) and God (or the deity)
are identical. As a result, pantheists do not believe in a personal, transcendent,
anthropomorphic or creator god. The word 'pantheism' derives from the Greek (pan):
'all' and the Greek (theos): 'God'. Although there are divergences within pantheism,
the central ideas found in almost all versions are that a) the universe is an allencompassing unity, and b) an emphasis on the sacredness of Nature.
The term pantheist from which the word pantheism was derived was
purportedly first used in English by Irish writer John Toland in his 1705 work
'Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist'. He clarified the idea in a letter to Gottfried
Leibniz in 1710 when he referred to 'the pantheistic opinion of those who believe in
no other eternal being but the universe'. However, many earlier writers, schools of
philosophy and religious movements expressed pantheistic ideas before this time.
They include some of the Presocratic thinkers, such as Heraclitus and Anaximander.
The Stoics were pantheists, beginning with Zeno of Citium and culminating in the
emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius. During the pre-Christian Roman Empire,
Stoicism was one of the three dominant schools of philosophy, along with
Epicureanism and Neoplatonism. The early Taoism of Lao Zi and Zhuangzi are also
pantheistic. In the Sioux way of life, Wakan Tanka is the term for 'the sacred' or 'the
divine' but the meaning is closer to 'Great Mystery' as Lakota spirituality is not
monotheistic, (Category Dii). It is typically understood as the power or the sacredness
that resides in everything, similar to many animistic and pantheistic beliefs. This term
describes every creature and object as 'holy' or having aspects that are sacred.
In the West, pantheism went into retreat during the Christian years between the 4th
and 15th centuries, when orthodox thinkers regarded it as heresy. The first open
revival was by Giordano Bruno - who was burned at the stake in 1600. For a time
during the 19th century it seemed like pantheism was the religion of the future,
attracting figures such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge in Britain;
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel in Germany; Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau in the USA. Seen as a threat by the Vatican, it came under attack in the
Syllabus of Errors of Pius IX. But in the 20th century pantheism was sidelined by
political ideologies such as Communism and Fascism and by the traumatic upheavals
of two world wars and later, by relativistic philosophies such as Existentialism and
Post-Modernism. It persisted in eminent pantheists such as the novelist D. H.
Lawrence, scientist Albert Einstein, poet Robinson Jeffers, architect Frank Lloyd
Wright and historian Arnold Toynbee. In the late 20th century, pantheism began to
see a resurgence of popularity. Pantheism chimed with the growing ecological
awareness in society and the media. It was described as 'Hollywood's religion of
choice for a generation now', and is often declared to be the underlying 'theology' of
Paganism.

GAIA AND PANTHEISM AN ASIDE

Pantheism has similarities to ideas of Gaia or Gaianism, which is a very broad and
inclusive philosophy and emerging spirituality with various religious expressions. It is
rooted in an intuitive knowledge of humanity's intrinsic connection with the Earth,
also known as Gaia. Gaia was originally a primal Greek titan, symbolizing the Earth;
all titans, gods and monsters of Greek polytheism originated from her and Ouranos,
the primal sky titan (both were birthed from Chaos). Approaching Earth as Gaia offers
us a modern Earth-centred and mostly pantheist spirituality based on a belief in the
intrinsic personality of the Earth as a Living Organism that has passed through
billions of years of Evolutionary expression. The modern emergence of this Earthcentred philosophy stems out of the accepted Gaia Theory that conveys the science
behind the Earth as an ancient, living and self-regulating system within systems.

CATEGORY Div - PANENTHEISM

Panentheism unites both transcendent and immanent ideas and says that Formless
Transcendent Essence is simultaneously and in parallel both Transcendent and
expressed as all that is. Panentheism (from Greek (pan): 'all'; (en): 'in'; and (thes):
'God'; 'all-in-God') is a belief system that posits that a deity exists and is manifest in
delimited form in every part of nature and simultaneously and in parallel with this,
timelessly and formlessly extends beyond any and all such manifest expression.
Therefore panentheism is differentiated from pantheism, which holds that God is not
transcendently distinct but rather is only synonymous with the universe. While
pantheism asserts that God and the universe are coextensive, panentheism claims that
God is, at the same time as this, greater than the universe. Much Hindu thought is
highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism.

ALCHEMY, PROTO-SCIENCE, PSEUDO-SCIENCE AND PANENTHEISM

- AN ASIDE
The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; they include the creation of the fabled
philosopher's stone with the capability of turning base metals into the noble metals of
gold or silver; the creation of an elixir of life conferring youth and immortality; and
the creation of a 'panacea:' a remedy that supposedly would cure all diseases and
prolong life indefinitely. In general alchemists believe in a natural and symbolic unity
of humanity with the cosmos. Lately western alchemy has become recognized as a
form of proto science presaging the seminal western sciences such as chemistry and
medicine. Alchemists nurtured a framework of theory, terminology, experimental
process and basic laboratory techniques still recognizable today. But alchemy differs
from modern science in its inclusion of Hermetic principles and practices related to
religion and spirituality.
Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric
practical applications on the one hand and its esoteric aspects on the other. Historians
of the physical sciences who have examined the subject in terms of proto-chemistry,
medicine, and charlatanism pursue the former. The latter is of interest to the historians
of esotericism, psychologists and spiritual and new age communities. Despite the
modern split, numerous sources stress an integration of esoteric and exoteric

approaches to alchemy. Holmyard, when writing on exoteric aspects, states that they
cannot be properly appreciated if the esoteric is not always kept in mind. MarieLouise von Franz tells us that the double approach of Western alchemy was set from
the start, when Greek philosophy was mixed with Egyptian and Mesopotamian
technology. The technological, operative approach, which she calls extraverted, and
the mystic, contemplative, psychological one, which she calls introverted are not
mutually exclusive, but complimentary.
As stated above, Hermetic principles are found in Alchemy where a supreme Deity,
(Category D), or Principle, (possibly Category A) is referred to variously as 'God',
'The All', or 'The One'. The Absolute - the concept of an unconditional reality which
transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence - is the central focus of
Hermeticism and therefore it is difficult to assign it a position among the traditional
Theistic religions, or along the monotheistic and polytheistic spectrum. Hermeticism
transcends Polytheism (Category Di), Monotheism, [including Deism] (Category Dii),
and Pantheism (Category Diii) within its belief system, which teaches that there is a
Transcendent Deity, The All, or The One, of which we and the entire universe,
participate. It is probably best located therefore in the category of panentheism
(Category Div). Also it subscribes to the notion that other beings such as gods and
angels and elementals exist in the Universe. So it has a complex, compound structure.
In the eyes of a variety of esoteric and Hermetic practitioners, the heart of alchemy
however is spiritual. The transmutation of lead into gold is presented as an analogy
for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection. This is the aspect of alchemy
that is often termed 'spiritual', 'esoteric', or 'internal' alchemy.
Early alchemists such as Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 A.D.), highlight the spiritual
nature of the alchemical quest, which is symbolic of a religious regeneration of the
human soul. This approach continued in the Middle Ages as metaphysical aspects,
substances, physical states and material processes were used as metaphors for spiritual
entities, spiritual states and ultimately transformation. In this sense, the literal
meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' were a blind, hiding and obscuring their true
spiritual philosophy. Practitioners and patrons such as Melchior, Cibinensis and Pope
Innocent VIII existed within the ranks of the monotheistic Christian church and
protestant reformer Martin Luther applauded alchemy for its consistency with
Christian teachings. Both the transmutation of common metals into gold and the
universal panacea symbolized our evolution from an imperfect, diseased, corruptible,
and ephemeral state towards a perfect, healthy, incorruptible and everlasting state.
The philosopher's stone represented a mystical key that would make this evolution
possible. Applied to the alchemist himself, the twin goals of transmutation and
panacea symbolized his evolution from ignorance to enlightenment and the stone
represented a hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that
are written according to this view, the cryptic alchemical symbols, diagrams and
textual imagery of late alchemical works typically contain multiple layers of
meanings, allegories and references to other equally cryptic works and as such must
be laboriously decoded to discover their true meaning.
In his 1766 Alchemical Catechism, Thodore Henri de Tschudi denotes that the usage
of the metals was a symbol:
Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their
matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver?

A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are
full of life.
During the Renaissance, alchemy broke into more distinct schools placing spiritual
alchemists (Category Div) in high contrast with those working with literal metals and
chemicals (possibly category A). While most spiritual alchemists also incorporate
elements of exotericism, examples of a purely spiritual alchemy can be traced back as
far as the sixteenth century when Jacob Boehme used alchemical terminology in
strictly mystical writings. Another example can be found in the work of Heinrich
Khunrath (15601605) who viewed the process of transmutation as occurring within
the alchemist's soul.
Recent work by Principe and Newman seeks to reject the 'spiritual interpretation' of
alchemy, stating that it arose as a product of the Victorian occult revival and that there
is indeed evidence to support that some classical alchemical sources were adulterated
during this time to give greater weight to the spiritual aspects of alchemy. Despite
this, other scholars such as Calian and Tilton reject this view as entirely historically
inaccurate, drawing examples of historical spiritual alchemy from Boehme, Isaac
Newton, and Michael Maier.
Due to the complexity and obscurity of alchemical literature and the eighteenth
century disappearance of remaining alchemical practitioners into the area of chemistry
(category A); the broad understanding of alchemy by the general public, modern
practitioners and also many historians of science, have been strongly influenced by
several distinct and radically different interpretations. Hundreds of books including
adulterated translations of classical alchemical literature were published throughout
the early nineteenth century. Many of these continue to be reprinted today by esoteric
book publishing houses, along with modern books on spiritual alchemy and poor
translations of older alchemical texts. These are then used as sources by modern
authors to support spiritual interpretations. Over half of the books on alchemy
published since 1970 support spiritual interpretations, mostly using previously
adulterated documents to support their conclusions. Many of these books continue to
be taken seriously, even appearing in university bookshelves.
The esoteric interpretation of alchemy remains strong to this day and continues to
influence both the public and academic perceptions of the history of alchemy. At
present, numerous esoteric alchemical groups continue to perpetuate modern
interpretations of alchemy, sometimes merging concepts from New Age or radical
environmentalism movements into the mix. Rosicrucians and Freemasons have a
continued interest in alchemy and its symbolism.

E) TRANSCENDENTISM
So far, in our consideration of spirituality, we have seen a realm of souls, a realm of
spirits and a realm of deities. Souls, spirits and deities, though incorporeal, are all seen
as having personhood. They have attributes, characteristics and qualities: some are
mischievous and deceitful whilst others provide help and guidance. The names
ascribed to deities often describe these attributes also names such as Love, Mercy,

Justice, Father, Shepherd. Furthermore, they are often given either some sort of
animal form, the form of some sort of fantastic creature or an anthropomorphic form
human-like male or female forms.
But there is a perspective on spirituality that transcends all of these forms. It is
transcendent of forms of deities, trans-theistic transcendent of gods, goddesses and
deities, as we have so far understood them. But in denying these forms, Absolute
Spirit per se is not denied. Often, the personhood of Absolute Spirit is not denied
either in the sense that in this perspective Absolute Spirit is not reduced to a mere
impersonal force or quantum particle.
Trans-theism is a term that has been applied to the theological system of Jainism,
which is theistic in the limited sense that the gods exist, but they become immaterial
as they are transcended by moksha. Thus Jainism is a system that is not non-theistic,
but the gods are not the highest spiritual instance.
The term has more recently also been applied to Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and the
Bhakti movement. It can be detected in certain mystics such as the Dominican
Christian Meister Eckhart, Shankara in Hinduism and possibly Ibn al-Arabi in Islam.
Shankara describes Absolute as Consciousness Unity Bliss. These are not attributes
per-se, but the appellation Consciousness is given to show that Absolute is not a mere
impersonal force. Eckhart speaks of Absolute Spirit in terms such as Emptiness, The
Silent Desert and so on. For these thinkers Absolute Spirit is transcendent of all
conceptualisation and thus is often referred to as Formless. Absolute Spirit does not
have delimited qualities, characteristics or attributes such as Love, Mercy or Justice.
Such terms are seen as delimited projections onto Absolute Spirit on our part they
are mere symbols and metaphors that point to aspects or facets of That which cannot
be known. In this perspective, any conceptualisation or categorisation of Absolute
Spirit is ultimately rejected 'God is not this, not that'. The view of Absolute Spirit is
one of absolute undifferentiation. Trans-theism stands above panentheism in some
ways yet it also embraces it in the sense that Atman and Brahman our essence and
Absolute Spirit are One. Indeed, the Essence of all that exists is Formless Absolute
Spirit but in expression, Absolute Spirit is manifest in delimited form. It is transtheistic in that God-with-attributes is seen as a mere projection and mental
construction on our part. This category is concerned with what lies above or if you
will, beneath God-with-attributes. Thus Eckhart talks in startling terms that if we want
to progress in the spiritual way we need to get rid of God or that we need to find the
God of God.
Absolute Spirit is spoken of as adopting theomorphism literally God changing shape
in order to meet us where we are as finite expressions in time and space. There is
no intrinsic form or shape to God, but in order to bridge the transcendent gulf between
Infinite and finite God adopts and changes shape to meet us where we are in
meaningful forms, symbols and metaphors. In this way, not only is panentheism
embraced, but also so are all the previous categories in the sense that they are all seen
as metaphorical approaches to That which cannot be known. Religious or spiritual
forms are bound to contradict and conflict because of their partial, finite and limited
quality form sets boundaries and limits - and forms of God limit and bind the
Infinite. Understood in metaphorical terms, this is not a problem but it does become
a major source of religious conflict if such forms are taken literally. For Ibn al-Arabi,

these metaphors acted as a peninsula between the finite material and the Infinite
Spiritual, between the known and the Unknowable. The fact that different pilgrims
use different metaphors, constructs and formulations does not matter because the
intention of them all in their worship, service and devotion is the One Absolute Spirit.
What is retained here though in this trans-theistic viewpoint is the idea of some sort of
personhood with regard to Absolute Spirit. Absolute Spirit is not a mere impersonal
Force or Energy rather there is a sense of will, intention and purpose that remains. It
is this sense of Personhood that distinguishes this category from the materialistic
categories that in addressing Ultimates, talk in terms of impersonal matter, energy and
forces as for example in Quantum Physics where they may talk about the HiggsBosun and the strange properties that appear at the quantum level.
There are a group of words, all related to the same root meaning: 'person',
'personality, and 'persona'. These words all relate to a mask that actors wore in ancient
Greece, so they refer to the way in which we present to others to attitudes,
disposition, character and behaviour which are consistently presented to others over
time. In truly transcendent thinking, even this personality is transcended. From the
description above, 'personality' is something that arises, like morality, out of
relationships. Ultimately, there is, in the transcendent view, only Undifferentiated
Formless Spirit alone. This transcendent aloneness means that there is no one and
nothing to present to rendering this definition of personality useless: Transcendent
Oneness supersedes it. Personality then is a quality that emerges from relationship it
emerges and remains whilst the One Absolute Spirit contracts to manifest as many
forms. Yet, in paradox, Transcendent Spirit as Transcendent Spirit remains alone in
relationship with nothing and no-one because there is nothing and no-one outside of
Spirit there IS no outside of Absolute Spirit.
Perhaps then what is meant by the 'personality' or 'personhood' of Absolute Spirit is
will and intention. There remains a definite agency, choice, will and intention a
choice and intention to contract from the One Transcendent Expansive
Undifferentiated Absolute and thus bring the universe into being by contracting and
differentiating into many forms. Yet even this will on the part of Absolute Spirit, this
choice or intention, is in itself a contraction from the undifferentiated Absolute. It
may be that the very first movement of Absolute Spirit an act of contraction in itself
from Perfect Stillness is to be found in this expression of will, choice and intention,
and right here, we differentiate from the blind impersonal forces proposed by
materialistic philosophies.

SOME INITIAL INFERENCES

I have taken different spiritual 'objects' as it were souls, spirits, deities - and
described various perceptions of and relations to these spiritual 'objects', defining
them as main and sub categories. In this map that we are creating, every category so
far is defined by the 'object' of our spirituality be it an ancestor/soul that is
venerated, a nature spirit, a panoply of gods and goddesses, one supreme deity or a
more transcendent Spirit.

If we overview the main categories A to E, we see that there is a general trend of

increasing transcendence. We begin in category A with a focus only on the material
there is no transcendence at all and possibly, even an opposition to it. Then, beginning
with an acknowledgement of some transcendent intrinsic part of our own human
nature or even the nature of the world around us, we move through ever more
sophisticated and transcendent categories of spirits and deities until we even transcend
God into the realm of Absolute Spirit in category E. So, as these are laid out with
category A on the left through to category E on the right, we have a line of
transcendence: a shift from the mundane material world to Transcendent Formless
Absolute Spirit. Thus the more we find that our perceptions and understanding is
positioned to the right on this line, the more transcendent it is.
We have seen that our perspective may be simple in the sense that it may easily fit
into one category, or more likely, our perspective may be made up of a combination
of sub-categories to greater or lesser degrees of strength, making it a complex
compound perspective. Christianity is an example of such a compound, complex
perspective such that we find within it a whole range of beliefs and practices, some of
which are more transcendent than others. But there is still a great variety in the way in
which different Christians may categorise themselves. One Christian may embrace a
literal single sky deity; another Christian may have a strong belief in the role of saints
as intercessors before God; yet another may regard the biblical God as a mere fable
and morality tale; and yet another Christian may have a transcendent mystical
perception of Union with Formless Spirit. So we need to refine our categorising still
further.
One way in which we do this is by being very specific in what we are analysing. We
will get a different categorisation pattern with each of the following themes of
analysis:
Christianity
Calvinism
Roman Catholicism
My Christian beliefs
The Christian God
These themes for analysis may contain a broad or narrow perspective, may refer to
my specific individual beliefs or to the beliefs of the community/society at large that
are not shared by me the analyser. These different themes also contain a different
emphasis of different ideas within Christianity. So in any categorising that we
perform, we have to be clear, specific and consistent throughout the analysis with
regard to just what it is that we are categorising whilst at the same time recognising
that in many ways our analysis is subjective it is our perception, construct and
valuing of different elements that we bring to the exercise we are defining these
themes as we see them.
Another way that we can refine our categorising is to give our theme a score or value
in each category element in order to indicate the strength and degree to which our
theme fits in any given category. Thus one Christian may lay great emphasis on spirits
angels and demons, whereas another may not. On a scale from minus 5 to plus 5, any
sub-category can be give a value in relation to the theme under analysis that reflects

the degree to which it is embraced or opposed. Thus an anti-spiritual perspective will

score negative in all categories B, C, D and E reflecting the scope of it's anti spiritual
perspective, and the values reflecting the depth or conviction of the view concerned.
Christian fundamentalism will score negatively in category A and E, (which it would
see as blasphemous) and have various values in categories B, C, and D, scoring
highest in monotheism, (Dii). We will explore the details of this later.
When it comes to movement or progression through these categories, this is by no
means necessarily in category sequence or in one direction. We shall see in a moment
or two that mystical experiences, particularly unplanned spontaneous ones, may cause
a radical and sudden shift, such that a person may move from spiritual apathy to
become say, a convinced monotheist. But this movement may happen in the opposite
direction also for example, a convinced Christian monotheist, as the result of some
personal conflict or trauma or some disappointment in their life or some crisis of
belief in the light of some new information gained, may become an anti-spiritual
secular humanist. Such movements would not be gradual, or progress through a
sequence of intermediate sub-categories and main categories. Such a disaffected
Christian would not first become interested in witchcraft and then in shamanism to
eventually move to spiritual apathy or opposition. Shifts in position can be made
quickly and can jump across intervening categories.

SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE
We have been considering our relationship to various perceptions, conceptualisations
and understandings of spirituality, especially in relation to the spiritual 'object' of our
beliefs. Those who accept spirituality in its widest definition as referring to any or all
of the realms of soul, spirit or deities develop some sort of systematic world-view
that incorporates this spiritual dimension. For our purposes in this essay, I will call
this a spiritual philosophy. Spiritual philosophy is a generic term for any coherent and
reasonably systematic world-view, system of thought or teaching that pertains to
spirituality. It may incorporate religious or esoteric themes, including those from
Theosophy or Neo-Theosophy, New Age thought, mysticism and Eastern philosophy.
Concepts may include the nature of The Absolute, karma and reincarnation, the
evolution of the soul, higher states of consciousness, universal mind, and so on.
Included in spiritual philosophy is 'theology', from the Latin 'theologia': 'reasoning or
discussion concerning the Deity'. Although I might usually use the term 'theology' in a
slightly broader sense as being similar or identical to spiritual philosophy, it is not
suitable in this essay because 'theology' assumes the existence of a deity or deities and
our categorisations of spirituality sometimes exclude any deity or deities. So I will use
the term 'spiritual philosophy'.
How is information and knowledge gained about a realm that has no material
substance? Certainly the materialistic methods usually attributed to science whereby
an emphasis is placed on observation, measurement, predictability and replication or
repeatability cannot apply as main method of approach. Such methods are not totally
ignored but materialistic methods cannot be the prime methods with regard to the
non-material realm. Thus, just because limited, materialistic scientific methods cannot
demonstrate or give repeatable laboratory evidence for an incorporeal spiritual realm;
it does not mean that the realm does not exist. In the same way, if a spiritual

experience can be demonstrated to correspond to changes in brain wave patterns or

other physiology, it does not mean therefore that mystical experience can be reduced
to mere brain wave patterns to being fully explainable only in terms of brain
activity.
The gaining of spiritual knowledge rests on the following approaches:
Physico spiritual philosophy
Rational spiritual philosophy
Revealed spiritual philosophy
a) Physico spiritual philosophy
The understanding and perception here is that the universe in some way has a spiritual
aspect, component or foundation be it souls, nature spirits, deities or deity - and that
therefore aspects of this incorporeal foundation and realm can be predicated or
inferred from the physical or material universe and from the person's experience of
and within that universe. This approach begins with everyday forms - aspects of
nature and the Universe. But the spiritual inferences drawn from it may result in a
conception of spirituality that ranges anywhere from Category A through to Category
E. Gazing at a mountain, or meditating on a blade of grass blowing in the breeze, or
seeing the terrible power of an earthquake may lead a person to a form of spiritual
insight to Realization or Enlightenment in the form of what is sometimes termed
'nature mysticism', where it may be that no deity-form is acknowledged or proposed,
but yet it is felt that the Essence of Nature Itself is communed with. If this is then
understood in terms of an impersonal force or a fundamental quantum particle then
these ideas are situated category A. If on the other hand it is understood as some kind
of world or universal 'soul', then we are in category B and so on. For another person it
may be that such an experience of nature conveys the Power of the one and only Deity
(category Dii) and the person reflecting on this experience of nature may have a deep
and immediate sense of that Deity's Divine Power inherent in the Universe as a whole
or in some aspect of it. This approach to spiritual knowledge then does not necessarily
involve a formal religious setting or context but neither does it exclude such a setting.
The particular spiritual qualities that may be inferred from a contemplation of the
material universe could include the following:Dominion
Eternity
Greatness
Immensity
Immutability
Infinity
Knowledge
Majesty
Omnipotence
Omnipresence
Omniscience
Power
Sovereignty

Strength
As part of a spiritual philosophy, these qualities present in the material universe may
be attributed to personal spirit-beings such as souls, spirits or deities according to the
type of world-view being embraced. Thus, if the person has moved to a position of
accepting the existence of nature spirits, some of these qualities would be attributed to
some of these personal spirit-beings. Thus a storm spirit could be attributed with
greatness, power, strength and immensity. In a monotheist perspective however, these
qualities would become the natural attributes of the one and only deity.
The spiritual seeker adopting this approach to spiritual knowledge may spend regular
time in contemplating the natural, physical aspects of the universe more fully,
reflecting and thinking about the material universe in relation to or as manifestations
of a spiritual realm that underpins or overarches it. They may ponder the origins and
qualities of the universe together with their place in it with a view to understanding
how the physical universe reveals and implies a spiritual domain. If such a spiritual
domain or realm is implied, testified and witnessed to by the universe, then they may
go on to consider what implications this may have for them as beings within such a
spiritual/material universe.
In the physico spiritual approach, moral preferences cannot be expressed but
nevertheless they often mistakenly are. The qualities that the universe displays such as
Power, Immensity, and Omnipresence are neutral in terms of morality. The universe
does not display a moral preference but rather is neutral and ambivalent. When an
earthquake strikes, some people who are morally good are killed and some who are
morally bad survive. Those who are spiritually inclined may take shelter in a church
only to find that the building collapses on them and kills them. Spiritually inclined,
humble, kind, good people do not somehow miraculously survive natural disasters or
the forces of nature. Anti-religious, proud, arrogant, cruel and evil people are not
singled out for 'punishment' by nature. There is an order in the material universe
material existents follow properties of matter, mass, physics, chemistry, biology and
so on throw a ball up into the air and gravity will bring it down again, put your hand
in a fire and you will be burned. This principle is true from the smallest to the greatest
events. Natural laws and principles hold the planets in their orbits, galaxies in their
places and so on. Quite probably were it not for tectonic plates, life would not have
emerged in the way it did on earth but the movement of tectonic plates causes
earthquakes and volcanoes where the plates meet and earthquakes and volcanoes
bring death and suffering. They show no moral preference.
However, in seeking answers to the sorts of existential questions that I have outlined
earlier, the spiritual seeker who embraces the physico spiritual method of inquiry may
well mistakenly infer moral causation or direction in such events as storms or
earthquakes. From violent storms they may infer the wrath or anger of spiritual
beings, from famine and failure of harvests they may infer judgment by the gods or
from prosperity or victory in battle, they may infer the favour of the spirits.
Of course as individuals, we do have a preference as to how we would like things to
be in the material world. We would like strength, prosperity, good health, and
favourable circumstances to make life easy and so on. Thus we can pick out from
nature that which is perceived as being 'good', 'ideal', 'eminent' and 'praiseworthy',

selecting from the material world those things that are seen as positive, desirable
qualities and these can then be inferred as positive aspects of the spiritual realm. Such
an approach sees for example harmony in aspects of nature, or beauty in aspects of
nature such as the beauty of flowers or sunsets and focuses on these as displays
and manifestations of the Beauty of a spirit-being or deity. But this has an inherent
mistake because nature is a-moral and ambivalent. Just as there is harmony in nature,
so there is violence, cruelty and suffering; just as there is beauty in nature so also
there is ugliness and aspects of nature that seem repellent and distasteful. For every
element that is desirable, lovely, harmonious and beautiful, there are its counterparts
and opposites. For every circumstance and situation that seems supportive and
protective there is its opposite.
I repeat my view that nature and the events in the natural world are a-moral or neutral
and therefore the focus cannot be on selected preferred positive ideals in the material
universe, but rather on neutral aspects such as power and magnitude.
The ultimate quality underlying all is Unity. A person using the physico spiritual
approach may have an experience whereby they intuit the underlying cohesive Unity
of all that exists. They may embrace a trans theistic viewpoint (Category E). They
may focus on acceptance and surrender to the 'isness' of existence, to the way things
are as opposed to any preference of ours as to how we would like things to be. Our
preferences and desires with regard to the natural world are seen as largely irrelevant
or even as a problem since such desires and passions cause unhappiness and
discontent. This is not mere fatalism or stoicism because there is an
acknowledgement that underpinning all is Spirit. In all of this, Spirit is in all things.
Spirit is displayed in the beauty of a flower, the power of a volcano, the strength and
terror of a Tsunami, in leaves fluttering in a summer breeze, in the scorching heat of
the desert and the frozen ice of the arctic. There is nowhere where Spirit is not.

b) Rational spiritual philosophy

Rational spiritual philosophy is an approach based on reason: the capacity human
beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts and to change or
justify practices, institutions and beliefs. It is also based on our ordinary experience of
the everyday world. This area is sometimes known as 'natural theology'.
The concept of reason is sometimes referred to as rationality and sometimes as
discursive reason, in opposition to 'intuitive reason'. Intuition is the ability to acquire
knowledge without inference or the use of reason. The word 'intuition' comes from the
Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'' or 'to
contemplate'. Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify.
Reason or 'reasoning' on the other hand is associated with thinking, cognition, and
intellect. Reason, like habit or intuition, is one of the ways by which thinking comes
from one idea to a related idea. For example, it is the means by which rational beings
understand themselves to think about cause and effect, truth and falsehood, and what
is good or bad.
Rational spiritual philosophy is that part of the philosophy of religion dealing with
describing the nature of the gods, or, in monotheism, arguing for or against attributes

or non-attributes of God, and especially the existence of God, purely philosophically,

that is, without recourse to any special or supposedly supernatural revelation.
As with physico spiritual philosophy, rational spiritual philosophy may spend a great
deal of time looking at the material universe, but the emphasis here is on the human
powers of logic, rational argument and reason. It has a stricter methodology that
physico spiritual philosophy. It also has a more materialistic approach in its demands
for evidence and in its rejection of spiritual revelation (see c below). It is in rational
spiritual philosophy that we find cosmological, ontological and teleological arguments
for the existence of God and thinkers such as Thomas Malthus, William Paley and
Thomas Paine giving arguments from all sides of the debate.
Deism, (Category Dii), uses this method of spiritual inquiry and it is a view that
reveals the principles of rational spiritual philosophy quite well. Deism is the belief
that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized
religion, and without the need for supernatural revelation, can determine that the
universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. For deists, human beings can know
God only via reason and the observation of nature but not by revelation or
supernatural manifestations (such as miracles) phenomena that deists regard with
caution if not scepticism. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human
affairs or suspend the natural laws of the universe. Deists typically reject supernatural
events such as prophecy and miracles, tending instead to assert that a god (or 'the
Supreme Architect') does not alter the universe by intervening in it. This idea is also
known as the 'Clockwork universe' theory, in which a god designs and builds the
universe, but then steps aside to let it run on its own. God is thus conceived to be
wholly transcendent and never immanent.
The concept of deism covers a wide variety of positions on a wide variety of religious
issues but Critical elements of deist thought include:
a) Rejection of all spirituality based on books that claim to contain the revealed word
of God.
b) Rejection of all spiritual and religious dogma and demagogy.
c) Rejection of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious 'mysteries'.
Constructive elements of deist thought include:
a) God exists and created the universe.
b) God gave humans the ability to reason.
Individual deists vary in the set of critical and constructive elements for which they
argue.
In England, the term 'deist' first appeared in Robert Burton's 'The Anatomy of
Melancholy' (1621) and 'deism' is first found in a 1675 dictionary. Deism became
more prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment especially in Britain, France, Germany and America, among intellectuals who were
raised as Christians but who found that they could not believe in supernatural

miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures, or the Trinity, but yet who did believe in one
God. Deistic ideas also influenced several leaders of the American and French
revolutions.
The spiritual inferences that a person draws from rational spiritual philosophy may
result in a conception of spirituality that ranges anywhere from Category A through to
Category E as with the physico spiritual philosophy approach described above.
Rational arguments are used both to oppose the existence of any sort of spiritual realm
at all on one hand and to support the realms of souls, spirits, gods, or god and even
beyond on the other. But the emphasis and focus is always on the construction, logic
and validity of the arguments presented.

c) Revealed spiritual philosophy

Revealed spiritual philosophy is an approach based on revelation: the revealing or
disclosing of information or knowledge through active communication or passive
reception with regard to a soul, spirit or deity. It is also based on our non-ordinary
experience of the realm of spirituality, such as mystical modes or modes of non-usual
consciousness such as a trance or meditative mode.
This approach to spiritual knowledge does not fall into category A but otherwise runs
the whole range of categories B through to E. In other words it accepts at least one or
more of the realms of soul, spirit or deity and further proposes that such personal
incorporeal spirit-beings may communicate to us (or us to them) and that such
communication may reveal to us otherwise hidden information concerning spirituality
or other matters. Some religious systems have sacred texts that they view as being
originally revealed or inspired in this way. Some proponents hold to the view that
incorporeal spirit-beings can communicate with us in a way that gives us direct,
propositional content: a position termed verbal revelation. Orthodox Judaism and
traditional Christianity hold that God dictated the first five books of Moses in this
fashion. Another school of thought holds that revelation from incorporeal spiritbeings is non-verbal and non-literal, yet it may have propositional content, such that
people were divinely inspired by God with a message, but not in a verbal-like fashion.
In the Old Testament, Isaiah writes that he received his message through visions,
where he would see YHWH the God of Israel, speaking to angelic beings that
surrounded him. Isaiah would then write down the dialogue exchanged between
YHWH and the angels. This form of revelation constitutes the bulk of the text of the
Book of Isaiah. The same formula of divine revelation is used by other prophets
throughout the Tanakh, such as Micaiah in I Kings 22:19-22. The Apostle Paul often
spoke in terms of faithfully teaching what he received in terms of revelatory teaching:
'The gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor
was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from [the resurrected and ascended]
Jesus Christ'.
Some religions, though based on such revelations, may declare that revelation is now
complete and has ceased, whereas other religious groups may still rely on continuing
revelation and inspiration given to its followers. Some religious groups mix the
rational approach and the revealed approach: they accept the revelatory quality of

their Scriptures, such as the Bible or Koran, but they also insist that this revelation is
now complete and so insist that modern day followers use rational approaches within
the bounds of the doctrines in their scriptures.
Those who persist in seeking or following revelatory experiences for themselves are
often dismissed as being 'enthusiasts' a pejorative term implying a failure to use
common sense and reason and/or to be ruled by irrational emotional subjective
experiences. Worse, they may be referred to as religious 'fanatics'. Such charges are
usually brought those of a rational persuasion (b above) because they dislike the fact
that this approach to spiritual knowledge has non-rational aspects. However, such
critics may confuse non-rational with irrational. Irrational means 'not endowed with
reason, loss of mental clarity or incoherence, inconsistent with reason or logic,
absurd,'. Non-rational on the other hand means knowledge obtained through intuition
rather than reasoning or observation. Some of the world's greatest mystics used this
revealed, intuitive approach but the body of work that they produced as a result of the
spiritual insights that they gained certainly cannot be dismissed as irrational or absurd.
As with the other approaches, the conception of spirituality covered here has a
considerable range - anywhere from Category B through to Category E. Thus we have
mediums communicating with the souls of the dead, witches and sorcerers conferring
with familiar spirits and/or demons, prophets receiving communications from God
and mystics in communication with an Ultimate Spirit that transcends any deity.
This approach places an emphasis on those who are able to communicate with the
spiritual realm in this way or who have had some sort of spontaneous experience in
this area. Thus we find in this approach the Shaman, or medicine man, the witch or
wizard, the priest or intercessor, the guru and mystic. Because of their ability to gain
spiritual insights, either as an uncontrolled spontaneous experience or as created
through the use of ceremony and ritual practice, the teachings or the 'discoveries' that
arise from their experiences as well as the person themselves may be given great
prestige and reverence. Their writings may eventually form part of a canon or rule of
sacred literature. They themselves may be revered as beyond human as incarnations
of a god and so on.
The arising of a spontaneous non-usual experience a mystical or transcendent
experience - may cause the recipient to radically shift their spiritual viewpoint and
with it, the spiritual category to which they belong. This shift may be sudden and
acute and also be a shift that may jump across a number of sub-categories or even
main categories. Thus the person in spiritual apathy may move to be a convinced
monotheist, or a follower of spirits may move to a transcendent spiritual viewpoint.
We have then three approaches to the gaining of spiritual knowledge:
Physico spiritual philosophy
Rational spiritual philosophy
Revealed spiritual philosophy
They cover the whole range of categories in almost every case so these approaches
give no real designation of transcendence in themselves. They tend to merely reflect

and perhaps partly determine the method of inquiry towards spirituality that is
adopted.

SPIRITUAL BEHAVIOUR
So far we have been considering conceptions of spirituality how we understand,
perceive and formulate spirituality and methods of inquiry as to how we gain
knowledge of this hidden realm. But spirituality is not merely a dry academic exercise
or just a matter of elucidating and forming a spiritual philosophy or theology.
Obviously philosophy, theology and the organising of our concepts of spirituality are
very important. But spirituality affects the whole person it engages them not only in
constructing and debating the finer points of their understanding and perception of the
spiritual realm - their theories, philosophies and theologies, but also it affects their
behaviour and experience. As a consequence of their understanding and perception of
spiritual matters, their behaviour emotions and attitudes are also affected. The person
that becomes engaged with spirituality finds that they are on a journey not only of
developing an increased understanding the 'talk' but also a journey that affects
their conduct and behaviour the 'walk'.
If we survey the literature that refers to the spiritual walk we find that we can outline
six ways or paths along which we may walk. These are:
1) The beginning of the walk
2) The path of nature spirituality
3) The path of purgation
4) The path of inner illumination
5) The path of Unity
6) The path of Transcendent negation
These paths have a loose relationship with the perceptual categories that we have
looked at already but they are by no means in a fixed or determinate relationship. A
particular category of perception and understanding tends to incline to one or other of
these paths, but they do not determine the paths.
So lets now look at each path in turn.

PATH 1 THE BEGINNING OF THE WALK

A mental awareness of the possibility of the reality of the spiritual realm opens up the
person's mind in such a way that they may to start to inquire seriously about the
spiritual domain. This may happen gradually out of the person's increasing
dissatisfaction with or sense of inadequacy of secular or materialistic explanations, or
it may happen suddenly as the result of a personal crisis or trauma or some sort of
transcendent experience.
It is usually the existential-like questions that come to the fore in the spiritual seeker.
Trauma, conflict or personal crisis may thrust these issues to the fore, or there may be
an increasing and nagging doubt as to the adequacy of materialistic answers

previously accepted and unquestioningly relied on. Thus the person starting to inquire
about some aspect of spirituality may be asking questions such as:
What is the meaning or purpose of life and the universe?
How did life and the universe originate?
What is the ultimate fate of the universe?
Why do catastrophes happen?
Why does suffering exist?
Why did this trauma/crisis event happen to me?
Why does evil exist?
What, if anything, happens after death?
Will I be punished after death for my wrongdoing?
Where have I come from and where am I going?
Is there a spiritual realm and if so, what is it like and how does it affect us?
How can we make sense of existence?
What is my place and purpose in the universe?
Who and what am I really?
We have seen that the answers to such questions are by no means the sole province of
spirituality and religion but spirituality and religion do suggest answers to these
questions and thus the person may be drawn to explore spirituality and religion
further.
Very often, the person already has a religious framework of some kind, even if it is
only as a result of the influence of the culture and society in which they live and have
been brought up in. However tenuous and however long ago they attended any such
religious meeting(s), then it is to this religion that they may well turn. But almost
certainly, their context and culture will have already presented to them certain forms
of spirituality and usually, they will as a result make certain assumptions, conscious
or not, from these cultural forms which will partly determine the direction that they
start to take.
Such a religious context may draw the person's attention to the codes, laws or
commandments of that religion as well as to the answers that are offered to the
questions being asked and they may begin to attend meetings or participate in
ceremonies, rituals and traditions as long as they still feel comfortable with that
religion and the answers being provided. Thus a Christian may be directed to the Ten
Commandments and to forgiveness through Jesus and begin to attend worship
services. By such regular attendance, they will be drawn into a particular system or
school of thought concerning spirituality. As long as it makes sense to them, seems
appropriate, seems to fulfil a need and answers their questions and so on, then they
may well continue with this religious approach.
If on the other hand the person has no religious or spiritual framework that they may
feel affiliated to as their spiritual interest is aroused, they may find that instead they
contemplate nature - the universe, it's origins, wonders, size and so on together with
their position in it, avoiding what they see as the 'traps' or 'failures' of organised,
institutionalised religion.

It is impossible to generalise as to which of the categories that we have looked at such

a person will be in. What is certain is that if they are materialistic, then they seem to
be entertaining the idea moving away from Category A or at least entertaining the
possibility of such a move. If this person then began to attend a Christian Church or
Islamic Mosque, and to adopt some of their ideas, then they are moving immediately
to category Dii. If on the other hand they move to a belief in nature spirits, then they
are moving to category Cii. They do not have to progress through categories A, B, C
and D in sequential order. What is happening at this point is that the non-spiritual
material perspectives and assumptions of category A are at least being questioned and
an acceptance of some sort of transcendent spiritual realm is being considered.
But such a move may not be restricted solely to a move from category A. A Christian
fundamentalist, in Category Dii, for one reason or another, may also have some crisis,
trauma, uncertainty and so on. In this case, such a person may be moved to start to
explore pantheism [Category Diii] or panentheism [Category Div], or they may be
quite disillusioned and move away from a spiritual viewpoint altogether to start to
explore a materialistic, humanistic perspective [Category A].
All of these people are starting to move or consider moving to a different category
and are on the beginning of a new walk. So path one consists of starting to explore
new areas and approaches. It may mean reading books that cover and introduce new,
unfamiliar areas of philosophy, or it may mean experimenting with practices such as
meditation, or visiting new institutions or fellowships.

PATH 2 THE PATH OF NATURE SPIRITUALITY

This second path largely coincides with the physico-spiritual approach. In nature
spirituality, the universe is seen as being underpinned by a spiritual realm, be that a
realm of souls, one primal soul, spirits, deities or a single deity or trans-theistic spirit.
It is a path of immanent spirituality, however that spirituality is defined and
categorised. In other words, the universe is not seen in purely material terms or in the
light of impersonal forces, but rather, within the constituent parts of the universe
itself, to some degree or another, there is a spiritual aspect. Thus this approach does
not include category A but rather spans categories B through to E. It may be the only
way in which spirituality is understood - purely in terms of nature spirits as opposed
to deities or souls for example, or it may form part of a more complex, compound
spirituality. Because of this scope and range, this path is not identical to Category Cii.
Thus, in following the path of nature spirituality, component parts of the universe may
have inherent souls, or there may be nature spirits or deities ruling various domains
and spheres within the universe, or in may be that a deity is immanent in the universe
or it may be that a trans-theistic Absolute is expressed in all that is, or there may be
some combination of these categories.
We have seen earlier that the universe does not display a moral preference but rather
that it is neutral and ambivalent. However, the spiritual seeker who embraces the
spiritual path of nature may well mistakenly infer moral causation or direction in such
events as storms or earthquakes. From violent storms they may infer the wrath or
anger of spiritual beings; from famine and failure of harvests they may infer judgment
by the gods; or from prosperity or victory in battle, they may infer the favour of the

spirits. However, strictly speaking, this path is neutral and ambivalent. If a moral
preference has been made or a desire for one moral attribute over another expressed or
attributed to souls, spirits or deities, then the spiritual seeker has moved on to path 3,
the path of purgation, below.
These approaches or paths are not totally watertight and sealed such that they are
exclusive of one another. Thus one may follow path 2 the spirituality of nature and
also at the same time follow path 3 where a moral dimension and preference enters
the spiritual path.
The focus of path two, whatever the category, [A E], is on nature and natural events.
Thus there may be an observation of times and seasons, of solstices, eclipses and
moon phases. Weather patterns, cloud formations and so on may be regarded as
significant. Certain places may be regarded as sacred or set apart groves of trees,
pools, waterfalls, caves, certain trees such as the Oak, or mountains. Natural springs
of water may be regarded as special and ceremonies may surround it such as well
dressing, where garlands of flowers are used to dress the well or head of the spring on
special days of the year. This may be to honour the soul of the person who discovered
the spring who may be thought to still be there, or to celebrate the spirit of the well, or
the water-deity who resides there and so on. A later religious system may absorb such
a ceremony, such that Christian ministers 'bless' the well. But in all these, the focus is
on nature and spiritual aspects or underpinnings of nature and the natural world with
its cycles, seasons and phases.

PATH 3 THE PATH OF PURGATION

The Way of Purgation has morality. Any moral preference that is expressed however
may not be seen as inherently dominant in the natural world or expressed in its events.
The moral dimension emerges out of the concept of relationship, though not all
relationships are moral: for example a blade of grass does not have a moral
relationship with the blades of grass next to it, or with the flowers, or with the field or
with the trees. This is because a blade of grass is not a sentient agent it has no
conceptual knowledge of the world and no locus of choice as to how to act in the
world. Human beings on the other hand have evolved through the processes of the
natural universe into sentient material beings capable of thought and action: we have a
sense of our self, (with a small 's'), a sense of individuality, a sense of location in time
and space, a sense of agency and identity. Within this subjective sense of our
individual selfhood is our active locus or centre as an individual, separate, sentient,
material being capable of choice and action. For some on the spiritual journey, the
whole themes of 'choice', 'agency', 'freedom to act' and so on is a complex and
difficult one, especially for those in or approaching category E. A discussion on this
theme however would be time consuming, complex and difficult, well beyond the
scope of this study and as such distracting from our purpose here. For the purpose of
this essay, let us agree for a while that we seem to have a choice of action within
limits, such as within the physical limits of the material universe: I cannot make
myself invisible at will; if I jump of the top of the Eiffel Tower I will fall and
probably die and so on. There is a natural and neutral order in the universe, but we
may choose to take risks by pushing against it, challenging it and so on and we may
even act contrary to our own self interest, sense of survival or moral sense. Thus for

example, humans create machines to enable them to explore the depths of the ocean
where they cannot naturally survive. Our sentience, our sense of agency and freedom
of choice of action and the fact that we exist in relationship to other sentient beings
and other objects all bring the moral dimension into play
At this ordinary, conventional level of expression, the spiritual traveller usually
concludes that there is something deeper and more important in the universe than
one's own petty, materialistic ego-concerns and that these petty matters have to be
turned away from in certain ways and that these deeper, more important spiritual
concerns have to be turned towards. In the path of purgation, a choice is made
whereby things and behaviours that are seen as a hindrance to focusing on this deeper
spiritual level, or things and behaviours which do not properly reflect and honour the
Divine are sought to be turned away from or purged, and behaviours and attitudes that
promote a deeper level of spiritual encounter are encouraged. Souls, spirits or deities
are also seen as having moral attributes, or as existing in a moral relationship with
both us and with the universe, such that for example, they may have a sense of justice,
holiness or righteousness and therefore may display their anger against us if we are
unjust, impure or guilty of some misdemeanour.
The concept of people-in-relationship and souls/spirits/deities-in-relationship brings
the moral dimension into being and the existence of one quality of morality
immediately brings about the counterpart of that quality. Light brings forth darkness
and shadow: as soon as we conceive of Love, Hatred comes into existence. Human
beings then are operating somewhere on a point between these absolute points of
these various moral dimensions. People exist in a four-fold moral relationship: People
have an obvious moral relationship with other people. Society or communities soon
begin to expect certain standards of behaviour from individuals within the group and
very quickly, these standards are usually codified in some form of law. The feared
alternative to this is chaos in the society with its attendant threatened breakdown and
this can lead to an attempt to give weight and authority to the codes of society by
invoking the name and character of spiritual beings as the Author(s) of these codes.
People have a moral relationship with the Universe. Thus we have a relationship with
animals and plants and wildlife in total, with the whole planet and its atmosphere and
resources.
A person has a moral relationship with himself or herself because a person has a
relationship with themselves: they can let themselves down e.t.c.. Spiritual travellers
also see themselves as having a relationship with incorporeal personal spirit-beings,
be they souls, spirits or deities. Because of this, a complex relationship is set up
between the spiritual traveller and the incorporeal-beings of the spiritual realm.
Certain types of moral conduct may become desired or sought after in order to
appease these spirit-beings, or to curry favour and good fortune; to avoid their wrath
and anger and to obtain mercy and forgiveness and so on.
A sense of guilt may arise when there is a sense of failure in any of these
relationships. I myself may feel guilty, or I may regard others as guilty.
As seen by classic theologians, the Path of Purgation is the first religious level, a way
for beginners who are embracing a particular religious system. It focuses on the outer
life - on our behaviour in a material world whilst at the same time it has an opening

or sensitivity to spirituality. The main focus is on the identification, rejection and

removal of sin/Ignorance/Blindness: on a sense of 'getting right with the spiritbeing(s)' by the acknowledgement, confession and turning away from perceived
failures and wrongdoing, even to the point of making recompense and restoration
when this is considered appropriate. It is also a turning towards ways of behaviour
that reflect, respect, submit to and honour the spirit-being(s) of one's world-view. In
these kinds of ways, guilt is assuaged. In a religious context, it is the religious laws or
commandments of the particular religion concerned, such as the Ten Commandments
in Christianity, that usually define for the religious adherent just what such failures
and transgressions are, together with the sort of behaviour that is honourable and
respectful. In this way commandments and religious laws are used like a
'schoolmaster' to identify and assist in the purging or cleansing away of undesirable
behaviours and attitudes and the establishment of new ones. This approach tends to be
at least dualistic in its view where such spirit-beings be they souls, spirits or deities are perceived as 'Other' or distinct from the spiritual traveller.
This is a way supported by St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila amongst others
within Christianity for example. The postulate of this approach is that before the
spiritual traveller (self) can properly encounter the spirit-being(s), [especially a
monotheistic deity], (the Other), the spiritual traveller must first purify themselves of
all sin, spiritual hindrances, barriers and obstacles that obscure or oppose open and
free communion with the spiritual entity and also cultivate an attitude of reverential
respect for the spirit-being that is the 'object' of worship and devotion. So there is also
a desire to adopt behaviour that is 'pleasing to the spirit-being(s)' which is done by
following the religious law. Such hindrances, obstacles and undesirable behaviour
will often be defined in the Revealed Law of the Scriptures of the religious tradition
concerned. These are generally laws or commandments that are considered to have
been given and revealed by the spiritual-being(s) to prophets and sages in previous
eras, such laws being incorporated into sacred writings or scriptures used by the
religious tradition concerned. To these scriptural laws other traditions may be added secondary laws and practices written by sages and teachers within the religious
tradition. In Christianity for example, a person may join a particular religious order,
such as the Dominicans and in doing so agree to obey or submit to the rules of the
order. These rules may cover times of prayer and other religious duties. But whether
belonging to such an order or not, the attendance of the reading, teaching and
interpretation of the religion's Scriptures as expounded by Elders within the religious
tradition would be encouraged, together with the observance of external rituals and
ceremonies.
Thus this approach begins with the removal of outward behaviour and attachments to
the world that are perceived as hindering fellowship with the spirit-being(s). This is
done via contrition, sorrow for sin or sorrow for failures to keep the religious law or
transgressions of the religious law, confession, amendment of life, self- (ego)
emptying, self- (ego) abandonment, brokenness and so on. In short, it is a practice
engendering humility, repentance and submission before the spirit-being(s) of one's
world-view, by use of external codes and discipline. This procedure spirals inwards as
deeper and deeper levels or layers of hindrances and obstacles are discovered and
confessed. In Christian terms it is a way that involves purification of sin or the
mortification or putting to death of offensive behaviour and thoughts by means of
repentance and forgiveness through grace, together with desires and attempts to obey

and submit to the religious moral codes or laws of God. Such behaviour may be
motivated by seeking to avoid punishment by God. Or such behaviour may be
motivated by seeking and obtaining rewards from God for obedience. Or seeking and
obtaining favours through the grace of God may motivate such behaviour. Taken to an
extreme, this approach may involve the requirement of submission to burdensome and
oppressive religious laws and codes, may result in the engendering of existential guilt
that is, the person feels guilty for just existing and may even involve selfflagellation and forms of self-torture in attempts to mortify sin from the body. It is
therefore an approach that requires the virtue of balance if this sort of extreme is to be
avoided.
Extremes aside, this would be a conventional approach within say a Christian
religious group. A person attending or joining a church for worship services may well
find they may be encouraged to practice attendance to sermons and studies, and
prayerful confession and submission to God both within the group and as an
individual in private devotion. Different Christian groups would have different
emphasis: Roman Catholics may emphasise ceremony and ritual, Protestant Calvinists
would emphasise a more minimalist approach focussing on the Bible and its
exposition as an authority for faith and conduct. Those people following a Christian
path would join together for worship, adoration, celebration and prayer to God
through Jesus; for communion or mass to thus affirm their belief and trust in Christ as
Saviour through his death and resurrection. These are the shared relative Christian
forms of the Divine - shared symbols and concepts used for mutual encouragement in
the spiritual journey. Islam on the other hand would focus on the daily call to prayer,
on listening to teaching from the Koran, on learning the verses of the Koran, and so
on. Whatever the religious framework, the focus would be on external Laws and
Commandments and on the observation of prescribed religious duties such as
corporate prayer and other ceremonies and traditions such as the celebration of Mass.
In the absence of formal religion, it would consist of internally, subjectively perceived
obligations to the spirit-being(s) that is/are the 'object(s)' of devotion.
Within a formal religious framework, teaching at this level would be fairly basic and
didactic, being given by Elders and focussing on the requirements of purity or
holiness of life, on cultivating a sense of being set apart from the usual course of the
world, on becoming less attached to the world and its pleasures, passions and
materialism, on the requirements and explanations of the religious law and on the
mercy, grace and forgiveness of God (or other spirit-beings). This level involves
regular periods of self-examination using the Law as a mirror with regard to
identifying and purging out these negative aspects and trusting in the mercy and grace
of spirit being(s) when failure occurs. It is a path that is concerned with purging away
the guilt of sin, transgression and failure.
This path may occur in any of the categories (A-E), its focus is on turning away from
failure, transgression, guilt and unworthiness and turning towards noble, pure,
virtuous behaviour all in the light of the perceived spiritual realm. As part of the
assuaging of guilt, there may be a requirement to appease souls, spirits or deities
through various kinds of behaviours, rituals or sacrifices.

PATH 4 THE PATH OF INNER ILLUMINATION

In classical theology, the Path of inner Illumination is the second religious stage or
level, entered into by those who have been following the earlier Purgative Way and
who have achieved some proficiency there. This Path of inner Illumination, as it's
name suggests, focuses on the Inner Life: on prayer, meditation and contemplation;
and on cultivating a sensitivity to Spirit within, or Light within, or the Still Small
Voice e.t.c. Therefore this advocates an intrinsic spiritual and moral path as opposed
to the external or extrinsic spiritual and moral path of the previous Purgative Path.
Thus, concerns with moral behaviour remain in this path. We should be very clear
about morality. We can divide morality into:
a) The extrinsic path written laws, codes, rules and procedures, which is the
Purgative Path - and
b) The intrinsic path the Virtuous Path springing from within.
These two forms of morality should not be confused: they are quite different, but
spiritual adepts consider the intrinsic path as vastly superior to the extrinsic one. The
spiritual traveller has entered into a conscious positive relationship with regard to a
perceived spiritual 'object' and as we have seen, it is from relationships, including
spiritual relationships that morality emerges. Therefore the traveller enters into a
moral relationship with the 'object' of spiritual devotion. If the spiritual traveller
moves away from the imposition of external codes and laws, what is it that informs
their moral choice and preference when it comes to their behaviour and attitudes?
There are a number of motivations and pointers for intrinsic moral behaviour. These
include the sorts of factors that we have encountered earlier avoidance of
punishment or wrathful anger by the spiritual 'object', the currying of mercy and of
providence such as a successful harvest or successful business venture. In many cases,
the external codes found in the Path of Purgation become internalised as a set of
personal moral and spiritual values. But we have already started to see that these
Paths are arranged in some sort of hierarchy whereby some degree of attainment is
required through diligent practice and learning before moving on to the next. One
cannot internalise values that one has not learned and become familiar with. The
increase of knowledge and wisdom of understanding - concerning spiritual matters
also tends to move us from category A through categories B and C through to
categories D and E. In the process, the person's world-view and spiritual landscape
changes. So there is a general tendency, by no means rigid or fixed, that these later
Paths are more suited to one who is adept and learned on the spiritual journey. This
indicates that there is a move to greater transcendence as one moves through these
Paths.
For those who have become more adept on the spiritual journey, the underlying
principle that selects one moral aspect or dimension over and against another is Unity.
Trans-theistic Spirit is Unity and it is this principle of Unity that determines which
attitudes and behaviours are encouraged and which are purged out or not taken up.
The chief aim of moral behaviour at this more transcendent level is to overcome the
intrinsic division and separateness that is inherent in the delimited contraction of

Spirit in Spirit's manifest expression as the universe. Moral behaviour facilitates the
spiritual traveller's or Pilgrim's return to Absolute, where Ultimately, at the end of
temporal and finite existence, morals themselves are transcended.
Moral or virtuous behaviour:
Counters Arrogance, Greed, Lust and Selfishness, which emerge from our false
identification with ego-body-self and also counters the Ignorance that emerges from
contraction and delimitation.
Promotes peaceful co-existence with the Universe.
Reflects the Unity of Spirit.
Spirit is Unity and from Unity, contracted differentiation emerges or in Eckhart's
terms, 'flows out' whereby delimited expressions of Infinite Spirit exist in relationship
in finite time and space. Since it is from relationships that morality emerges, Spirit, in
the case of sentient beings is Unity expressed as delimited-many-in-moralrelationship. The foundation of morality then is Unity which underpins diversity and
from which unifying positive moral virtues derive, virtues such as:
Beauty
Calmness
Compassion
Contentment
Courage
Enlightenment
Fairness
Faithfulness
Forgiveness
Generosity
Goodness
Goodwill
Grace
Harmony
Healing.
Holiness/Purity
Humility
Integrity
Justice
Love
Mercy
Moderation
Openness
Peace
Respect
Righteousness
Tenderness
Truth
Wisdom
But the foundation of all is Unity

It is on these qualities that the Pilgrim contemplates with regard to own self and with
regard to Spirit. It is these qualities that are followed as inner ideals and principles of
conduct in each situation encountered, since they emulate the Unity of Spirit in the
diversity of expressed manifestation. They are not necessarily dominant qualities in
the moral relationships exhibited by people because in the process of contraction,
Ignorance and Illusion arises such that, in opposition to Unity, there is a tendency to
division, separation, self-seeking, materialism and individualism. Thus the negative
aspects of the positive unifying qualities listed above are in constant opposition to and
in tension with Unity. These negative qualities also reside within the Pilgrim because
the Pilgrim is expressed and manifest as a delimited, separate, contracted being. But
these qualities oppose Enlightenment and encourage further division, ignorance and
separation. Therefore the Pilgrim, as they become aware and enlightened, finds that
they are in conflict with themselves and the world. It is these negative principles that
the Pilgrim seeks to purge out or moderate by adopting the positive unifying virtues.
The negative qualities being purged are:
Division
Anger
Betrayal
Contempt
Cowardice
Cruelty
Deceitfulness
Delight in Ugliness
Delusion
Evil
Foolishness
Greed
Hatred
Ignorance
Ill-Will
Imbalance
Injustice
Lies
Lust
Pain
Secrecy
Violence
War-mongering
In Christianity, the Path of Illumination is encouraged in the early stages of the
writings of St. John of the Cross and by Basil the Great. Primarily this path reflects a
shift from the observance of external codes to an internalising of Unifying virtues and
use of them as ideals and principles in moral behaviour. It also reflects a greater
autonomy generally and a shift to a reliance on the Light within, to 'walking in the
Spirit' that is beginning to follow internal principles of Love, Mercy and so on: in
other words, lovingly emulating Absolute Spirit and particularly the Unity of Spirit in
each situation encountered, which if practiced correctly, would fulfil any external
written moral law.

At this stage, the practice of more complete non-attachment to the material world is
continued, but not just with regard to the ways and values of the material world,
bound as it is by Ignorance and Illusion. This non-attachment was begun in the
previous stage, the Purgative path, but at this stage, in addition to that, a nonattachment to 'good' things, to 'religious' things, to rewards, merit or favour from the
spiritual 'object' soul, spirit or deity - is also encouraged. This serves as a
preparation of the Pilgrim to be enlightened by Pure Spirit and to appreciate more
spiritual depth. But within a religious setting, there would also be continued
observation of ceremonies and rituals and attendance to Scripture study with
increasingly the use of personally directed study as a means of developing the Inner
Life as opposed to didactic teaching received from Elders. Such an approach is of
course not limited to Christianity but may be present in a number of religious
traditions.
Within the Christian tradition, we see here something of certain forms of Quaker
practice, though in their case, ceremonies and rituals, priests and elders, theology and
creeds are all seen as hindrances that detract and distract from focus on the Divine
within. In fact certain forms of Quakerism are perhaps best described as having
elements of the Way of Illumination as well as the next stage - the Way of Unity.
These types of Quaker meetings do not have an Elder preaching or teaching rather
the focus is on silence and sensitivity to Spirit within. The meetings are not just
individuals meditating, contemplating and reflecting, but rather, Pilgrims engaging in
a collective activity in which sensitivity to Spirit may be considered to be more acute,
or where sensitivity to Spirit may be more heightened.
We are moving here then to quite a different sort of gathering or meeting of spiritual
travellers from that of the previous stages. In the broader Christian tradition, those
earlier stages involve corporate prayer and worship, singing songs of praise, being led
in prayer by a priest or Elder, listening to Scripture being read, listening to an
authority figure such as a priest or Elder preaching, teaching and expounding
principles of theology and conduct, fulfilling the duty of attending rituals and
ceremonies from regularly eating bread and wine representing the blood and body of
the Redeemer Christ, possibly being baptised by full immersion as a declaration of
being born-again, lighting candles, making the sign of the cross, using holy water,
priests burning incense, the recitation of creeds and responses by the laity and so on.
Some groups within the Quaker tradition on the other hand have a meeting that
consists of silent waiting, with participants contributing as Spirit moves them and it is
designed to let God teach and transform the worshippers through attentiveness to
Spirit within. In such a meeting a group of people sit in a room mainly in silence for
an hour. They usually sit facing each other in a square or a circle. This helps them to
be aware that they are a group meeting together for worship and it puts everybody in a
place of equal status. From time to time someone may speak briefly, but sometimes
the entire hour may pass without a word being spoken. A set liturgy or code of rules is
not followed - a service has no structure and no one (apparently or obviously) leads it.
Everyone waits in shared silence until someone is moved by the Spirit (i.e. has a
strong spiritual unction) to do or say something as part of the meeting. A person will
only speak if they are convinced that they have something that must be shared and it
is rare for a person to speak more than once. The words should come from the soul from the Inner Light - rather than from the mind. The words spoken are usually brief

and may include readings (from the Bible or other books), praying, or speaking from
personal experience. Each speaking is followed by a period of silence. The belief is
that God speaks through the contributions made at the meeting. Some people say that
there is often a feeling that a Divine Presence has settled over the group. They know
that even if the words they feel moved to speak have no particular meaning for
themselves, they may carry a message from God to other people. There may be no
outward response to the contribution from the other people present, but if there is, it
will be something that builds positively on the previous contribution. Discussion and
argument are not part of the meeting and the silence in a meeting isn't something that
happens between moments of devotion - the silence itself is part of the devotion; it
provides a space for people to separate themselves from the pressures and events of
daily life and to get closer to God and each other. The people who are present try to
create an internal silence - a silence inside their head. They do this by stopping
everyday thoughts and anxieties and believe that if they wait silently for God in this
way there will be times when God will speak directly to them. It is important that the
waiting in silence and the listening are done as a group. The people taking part are
trying to become something more than just a collection of individuals; they want to
become aware of being part of a 'we', rather than just a solitary 'I'.
An alternative form of Christian meeting following the Way of Illumination, but with
a little more structure, leadership and theology may look like this:
The meeting is best underpinned with sincerity, sensitivity, openness, honesty and
commitment by those attending. A typical form and procedure can be as follows:
Opening meditation/reflection by leader/facilitator.
Celebration/Praise with songs by all.
Sharing of personal spiritual experiences and concerns by any member who wished to
do so.
Acknowledgement of distance from and the need for centring on the Divine by:
Removing barriers to the felt presence of the Divine
Restoring harmony to the unction of the Divine within
Increased sensitivity to the Divine within.
This would be achieved by:
Open declaration of negligence in following the virtuous path
Open declaration of resistance to following the virtuous path
Open declaration of opposition to the virtuous path.
With all this done either in the presence of others and/or in private devotion by all
group members.
Further elements may include:
Acknowledgement of our self-serving perspective.
A desire for and sensitivity to God showing us any areas requiring further
acknowledgement/confession and that we be emptied of our self-serving and
Ignorance.
An attitude of surrender to the Divine, together with sincere expressions of dedication
to walk the virtuous path.
To do, say and think only that which emulates the Absolute. Contemplation and a
seeking to be filled with the Divine or a sense of the Divine.

A desire to be emptied of ego-self in order to be filled with the Divine

Closing reflection/meditation by the leader/facilitator.
Because of openness to spiritual experience and influence by the Spirit and personal,
individual needs, the timing and order of such aspects of the meeting is fluid and open
to change.
These meetings require a certain maturity and understanding of the precepts of the
faith in order to avoid excesses, mere emotionalism or being led astray into false
theology or moral licence or antinomianism. They operate on the principle that
members have some degree of knowledge concerning God or the Divine and that they
have a certain degree of commitment to spiritual discipline and some degree of
attainment in personal holiness or purity of life. Therefore these meetings are
restricted to those who have attained some degree of adeptness in the spiritual life,
and the events and contents of the meeting are reserved as private and personal to the
group members. In some circles, there may even be some ceremony of initiation in
joining this group.
In such a meeting, it may be considered that all members are:
Equal
Have a degree of spiritual realization
That both men and women are involved in equal participation
The authority in the meeting is God Within, therefore there may be
No human authority
No Elder
No Priest
No Deacon
No Bishop
No Archbishop
No Rabbi, E.t.c.
In such meetings, it may be that no regular leader/teacher is used and in that way the
group would avoid any one person gaining an undue influence over the group. There
is reliance upon a certain amount of spontaneity: people are moved as the Spirit leads
and reveals.
All would be greeted with the kiss of peace
All would pray
All would sing
All would discuss
There is no doubt that this is a gathering or meeting for spiritual adepts, for the
spiritually mature. It is an advanced level of meeting for the more learned. To those
who are critical of such meetings they are seen as elitist but this is a false
accusation. It is a meeting of the spiritually mature in the Unity of Spirit.
Moral effort then is still important at this stage and forms part of the return to the
Absolute by the overcoming of the intrinsic division and separateness of the Pilgrim's

present level of God's expression in which they find ourselves. The Pilgrim may begin
to understand that Absolute Spirit does not issue external commands and laws to be
obeyed. Rather, the Divine Law is seen as written on the hearts of people: that is,
since each person is in Essence Absolute Spirit, then each person has at their heart or
soul or ground the uniting Virtues of God, that come into being in the first moments
of manifestation. Written codes and commandments may often be externalisations of
these Virtues and they stand in opposition to the Negative Virtues that also arise at
manifestation.
The higher principle is to follow the intrinsic Virtuous Way and to use societies laws
against those who trespass its codes. The intrinsic Virtuous Way is the superior way,
but those who do not follow it are bound by the codes of society. And where may the
best 'laws', principles and ideals be found? They may be found in the writings of those
who have tasted the Immediacy of God through different ages and cultures. The
emphasis at this stage then is on the intrinsic path in association with a recognition of
Subjective Relativism: this is 'True for': for example, 'This is true for me', and
Subjective Perspectivism: this is 'True from.', for example, 'This is true from where
I am standing' or 'It may be true for you over there, but not for me here'. It is intrinsic
morality springing from the heart, as opposed to external codes and laws imposed
from without, that emulates the Absolute and the Absolute is Unity and Bliss,
Transcendent of all. In the intrinsic approach the Pilgrim is sensitive to the
Transcendent. They do not seek division, but rather to transcend it. They recognise
God in all things, having a respect for the material universe. They recognise the
Ultimate Unity of all things and the artificiality of separateness and division. They
aspire to unite with God as Spirit and thus to oneness with the Inner Self. Hatred, war,
contempt and lies, though God is in them, descend in the opposite direction towards
further contraction, delimitation, differentiation, division and separateness. In the
experience of moving to the intrinsic path of inner Illumination and to an initial grasp
of non-duality, our morals are informed, they are not lessened, or weakened.
This focus on Unity takes us to the next path:

PATH 5 THE PATH OF UNITY

Advocated by St. John of the Cross and by Augustine in Christianity, this is the final
stage of the spiritual journey in classical orthodox theology that is set in a religious
context. In the previous stage, a set of positive moral qualities have been adopted as
inner principles or laws of conduct which are applied in any and every situation. What
we have in the previous stage then is the development of a form of situational ethics,
where the situation or circumstance in part suggests which of these principles or
aspects of virtue is adopted. The Source or Fount of these qualities is our own Self or
in dualistic terms, Spirit within, thus in demonstrating these qualities appropriately the
Pilgrim emulates Spirit. Sometimes this may even include the adoption of qualities
that may appear to be negative, such as righteous anger as in the example of Jesus
overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple. It is sensitivity to the
Divine in both the outside situation and as Source within that determines the
appropriate moral stance. In the main however, it is the uniting virtues that are
demonstrated. We can look again at the list of these qualities:

Beauty
Calmness
Compassion
Contentment
Courage
Enlightenment
Fairness
Faithfulness
Forgiveness
Generosity
Goodness
Goodwill
Grace
Harmony
Healing.
Holiness/Purity
Humility
Integrity
Justice
Love
Mercy
Moderation
Openness
Peace
Respect
Righteousness
Tenderness
Truth
Wisdom
But the foundation of all is Unity
First of all we can note this list is alphabetical. I have not arranged them in any other
order except to indicate that the foundation of all of the moral aspects is Unity. The
placing of Unity as the foundation suggests that we can in fact place these moral
aspects in some sort of hierarchical order whereby cardinal virtues begin to emerge
and take precedence over secondary ones.
These moral qualities point to Undifferentiated Spirit-as-Essence on the one hand but
also to a specific differentiation on the other. The scope or distance between
Expansive Spirit-as Essence on the one hand and the expression of contracted material
existents on the other forms a continuum. On this continuum we have formulated a
series of levels, degrees, grades, ranks, standings or classes of spiritual attainment
categories and paths - thus forming a hierarchy. Actually, a better word is holarchy. A
holarchy is where a whole forms part of something else. For example, a leaf is a
whole leaf, but is part of a tree. A category and path in this holarchy or hierarchy is a
point of relative constancy, firmness or stillness within this continuum and forms a
locus wherein something is fixed. These categories and paths are established in
relation to other things hence a category and path combination reflects an emergent
relationship and not in itself an existent. It is an emergent set of qualities arising from

the relationship of one thing to another. Categories and paths can only be perceived in
respect to the relationship between different things or the relationship between things
and the spiritual 'object'. For example, the relationship between a father and son where
the father brings the son into existence creates the category/path of
fatherhood/sonship and we can see that this is a relationship, not an existent.
What we have here then are levels of contraction, or levels of differentiation, both in
terms of the spiritual categories and paths that I have outlined and in terms of the
moral principles that I have listed. Ultimately, on the one hand, these moral qualities
point to Undifferentiated, Formless Spirit, yet on the other hand they point to a
specific differentiation, a specific level of contraction. These different moral aspects
vary in their breadth or scope of differentiation and it is this that gives us a key to
understanding their position in the holarchy. The highest level or degree pertains to
the widest, most inclusive and least differentiated thus we have One or Unity as a
descriptor/pointer to the spiritual 'object'. Other moral aspects and principles pertain
to lower degrees or levels because they are more differentiated, more limited, more
exclusive and more specific such as Mercy, Forgiveness or Power. These moral
principles then can be ranked in a holarchy according to their scope. Qualities such as
Mercy are transcended and incorporated into the higher principles such as Unity.
Unity is the highest and most expansive of all and serves as the foundation for the
others.
All these moral qualities, both positive and negative, reflect relationship and have a
two-fold aspect: Ultimately this is Spirit as Source and locus; and mind as expressor
of form. Each quality denotes or points to:
a) Spirit-as-Essence but this is Spirit considered in respect of a contracted, delimited
and particular relationship.
b) Specific differentiated reality or meaning a realm, a domain or provenance
which is the root of the quality.
Thus for example we can say that Integrity is part of the virtue of Truth. Truth has a
wider, broader domain or provenance than Integrity, therefore Truth is higher in the
holarchy. If Unity is the broadest of all, then probably Love and Truth are next. It is
this hierarchy or holarchy that determines why this next way is the Path of Unity,
because as we have constantly said, Unity is the broadest, highest, deepest quality of
all.
The path of Unity involves the direct contemplation of the spiritual 'object'. The focus
is usually on the qualities of Love and Unity. In the category of monotheism, this
sometimes involves using imagery of spiritual betrothal and marriage such as in the
Old Testament book, the Song of Songs. It is an attitude of ceaseless contemplative
prayer: the prayer of the heart. Ideas of and attachment to personal spiritual rewards
are gradually withdrawn even further: more than that practiced in the previous
Illumination stage, until the Pure Love and Unity of the spiritual 'object' be it soul,
spirit or deity - as pure Spirit, regardless of any self-(ego) interest remains.
The emphasis is on disinterested, wordless, contemplative love of the spiritual 'object'
and this results in deep spiritual communion with the spiritual soul, spirit or deity
which is still usually still seen in dualistic terms as spirit-entity-with-attributesexisting-out-there-and-separate-from-me. Thus, the 'object' of attention and the

Pilgrim remain separate but in close communion or mutual presence. In Christian

terms it may be said that the Pilgrim has experiences of being 'filled with the Spirit' or
'baptized in the Spirit'. In other words there is a sense and experience of being filled
and immersed in Spirit. The only goal is to present oneself united in love and
submission before the only 'Object' worthy of love, regardless of how that 'Object'
deals with us. Laudable, Unifying characteristics that fall within human
comprehension such as Love, Mercy, Compassion, or Tenderness are ascribed
positively to the soul, spirit or deity, but there may arise in the Pilgrim a clear
recognition that these characteristics are imperfect indicators of an Ultimate Essence,
merely inadequate pointers to Spirit that transcends all comprehension.
From a Christian point of view, what then about the presentation of Divine attributes
in Scripture? At this stage and later, the perception, practice and insight may be to
deny or negate the opposite qualities to the noble ones being portrayed. For example,
in affirming that God is Love, the Pilgrim may deny that God is Hate or Anger. But
the purpose is not to affirm the noble attribute as a fact but rather as a pointer to That
which is Unknowable.
The Way of Unity includes discursive meditation, which involves thinking about
some mystery or depth of the spirituality that is adopted with a view to gaining a
deeper understanding and the encouragement of a loving response. The Pilgrim may
reflect on the significance of perceptions and understandings that they have learned in
the earlier category/paths and so on. Quite formal methods for meditation have been
devised for this stage, such as the 'Spiritual exercises' by Ignatius Loyola in
Christianity, for example, which systematically takes the Pilgrim through the earlier
paths to this one. The contemplation used at this stage also involves non-discursive
mental prayer - a passive focusing on the Love of the soul, spirit or deity for example:
passively allowing and pondering a loving awareness to and of this spiritual 'object'. It
is a prayer of silence, which can be learned and which can lead to higher forms and to
mystical states.
Hesychasm, advocated by Gregory Palamas, is such a form of contemplative spiritual
practice. It means to be quiet, to be at rest; to remain silent. It is the Way of Stillness
and Repose. The approach involves drawing one's awareness into one's heart or centre
and being becoming aware of the soul, spirit or deity there, together with the practice
of pure prayer: the spontaneous intercourse of human spirit with the soul, spirit or
deity. The use of recitation following the rhythm of the breath may be used, for
example, in Christianity, reciting 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a
sinner' over and over again. The Hesychast usually sits for prayer with the head
pitched forward with chin on chest and gaze lowered gazing at the navel.
We can again see some similarities with some Quaker practices in these approaches,
but this path or Way is by no means limited to the Christian tradition and is present in
a number of traditional religious forms. This path may be carried out as an individual
or a group practice.
In anticipation and movement towards the next stage, one later version of Hesychasm
uses:
- no mental images
- no concepts

- no rational considerations
- no imaginings

The final stage, for the most advanced and experienced spiritual traveller is:

PATH 6 THE PATH OF NEGATION AND TRANSCENDENCE IN UNITY

This final stage of devotion or path stands outside classical orthodox theology.
Mystics such as Shankara, Meister Eckhart, Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo Dionysius
the Areopagite have embraced this path. It is characteristic of mystical theology in
Neoplatonism, Eastern Christian Orthodoxy and Hindu Advaita Vedanta. This
practice involves the denial of any conceptual forms as being applicable to the
spiritual 'object', to soul, spirit or deity. Absolute or Essence is Ultimately beyond
conceptualisation. This path involves a recognition that the spiritual 'object', the soul.
Spirit or deity is not an 'Object' and it sees that any attributes, qualities or
characteristics attributed to it are merely an adjunct, an addition falsely overlaid on it:
a guise. This means that Absolute Soul, Spirit or Deity can only be spoken of
analogically or poetically. This path develops an apophatic theology where this
Absolute incorporeal being is stressed by negative concepts: 'not this, not that'. This
path is therefore trans-soul, trans-spirit and trans-theistic.
As we descend the holarchy of moral qualities and principles, many of them become
mutually incompatible, for example: Love and Wrath, Mercy and Vengeance,
Creation and Destruction. Nevertheless we can see their effects and properties
displayed and manifest in the universe. These incompatible moral qualities are part of
diversity, division, conflict and suffering, yet even so, each one points to and is a
manifestation of Essence-as-Essence. Thus it is then that in contraction, God is
divided against God. [For want of a better phrase]. Absolute Spirit is expressed in all
things, even the murderer, the rapist, and the torturer. God in the murderer exerts
violence against God in the victim, God against God, divided. God is indeed the
Author of suffering. Yet in parallel to this, in Essence all is Unity. Since God is
divided against God, then it is no wonder that religion is divided against religion. The
mistake of many religions is that they consider their own delimited theology, their
own contracted doctrine and orthodoxy to be Absolute Truth. This is especially true of
religious fundamentalism. But ideas and formulations and categorisations of Absolute
Spirit, [like those listed earlier], are indeed just that: a delimited formulation and such
formulation or delimitation is not Absolute. Therefore, 'Primal Soul', 'the Highest
Spirit', 'gods and goddesses', or 'God' are not Absolute either: only Unknowable
Essence-as-Essence is Absolute. These concepts of the spiritual 'object', say as loving
merciful Father, are partial formulations, they are metaphors reflecting our need to
enter into relationship with Essence; and theology and spiritual philosophy is a
grouping of these various ideas and concepts into a coherent system. Debates in
spiritual philosophy then are speculations and discussions as to just how these
different ideas, formulations, conceptions and categorisations of the spiritual 'object'
fit together and orthodoxy is an agreement amongst religious leaders and authorities
to follow one particular conceptual system. But orthodoxy is no more Absolute than
spiritual philosophy. Orthodoxy is merely an agreement that one system is 'right' and
that others are 'wrong' and that therefore pilgrims should follow the 'one right

orthodox way'. In the past of course, this has led to accusations of heresy and apostasy
against those who dared to challenge the single prevalent and dominant category/path
and this challenge and dissent sometimes incurred dire penalties. As with the Divine
Names, many of these different spiritual philosophies and religious systems are
incompatible with each other, even though the intention of all of them is Ultimate
Spirit. Just as God is divided against God, so spiritual philosophy is divided against
spiritual philosophy and one kind of orthodoxy is set against another orthodoxy.
This is a major shift of perception whereby in effect the Pilgrim begins to deny, or
better, transcend all that has gone before all categories and all paths. This path is not
usually arrived at by consideration of nature or reasoned argument and rationality, but
rather by transcendent intuitive experience such that this is perceived Immediately,
that is without mediation from language, concept or logic. The conceptual rug is
pulled from under the Pilgrim's feet as it were, as the inadequacy of conceptualising
Absolute Spirit begins to be more and more embraced and realised. The scope and
degree of this perceptual shift should not be underestimated. There is a move away
from all external religious structures such as law and discipline, from internal
conceptualising, philosophising and theology and from literal understanding of the
Divine, to the use of metaphor, analogy and symbol as peninsulas, stepping stones or
pointers to That which cannot be known or conceptualised. To some degree then, this
approach incorporates Via Analogia: the Way of analogy. Ultimate Spirit is seen as
Attributeless for all attributes belong to contracted manifestation and not to
Absolute Spirit per se. Absolute Spirit becomes Formless, Emptiness, Silence if any
such positive descriptions can be used at all.
However, it is difficult to make this approach logically plausible in the face of
rational, philosophical and theological critique when it is used as a beginning path
because rationality, philosophy and conventional orthodox theology insists on
attributing forms and characteristics to God or Absolute Spirit. The insights and
understandings gained at this stage may have to be held back not only from those
disinterested in spirituality, but also from those who remain on the early category/path
combination of the journey. 'I have seen things that a man may not speak of.'. History
shows that those bound by a more literal and orthodox approach tend to react in a
negative way when presented with this kind of spirituality, often branding such adepts
as heretics or marginalizing them as eccentric enthusiasts or fanatics.
The Path of Negation requires courage and it is an arid path for the beginner and as
such usually unsuitable for them. As we have already seen, morality is in sense
transcended: 'good' and 'bad' being absorbed in Absolute Spirit. The direction of
movement is to 'being', in fact, to 'Beyond-being', into transcendence of time to the
'Eternal Now'. Self (as opposed to ego-self) and Absolute Spirit are seen as One
Atman is Brahman Soul is Godhead, Godhead is Soul all is Undifferentiated One.
When one is at this level, worship and adoration fall away there is no form of
devotion, no 'you' and 'me', no 'self' and no 'God'. But Unity remains. It is another of
those positive words that, however inadequate it seems, the Pilgrim may still use in
reference to Absolute Spirit. But this is not an a-moral or immoral position. It is a
position of Unity the very foundation, fountainhead and Ground of morality. The
Path of Negation is a path followed by one of the greatest sages, Shankara, but even
he referred to Essence as Unity-Consciousness-Bliss. It is virtually impossible for us
to completely negate positive descriptions and pointers to Absolute Spirit.

It is unlikely though that such a state of being and perception is maintained for very
long, because, when all is said and done, the Pilgrim remains bound and delimited to a
physical body, having a locus of perception from a point in time and space and a mind
and ego-sense that emerges from this body/brain organism. In this experience the
Pilgrim's body is not dissolved into Spirit and therefore, full Transcendence, full
Enlightenment, full Realization is not attained. The Pilgrim returns to a level of
perception and awareness that is more conventional, more relational in time and
space, more differentiated. They do of course bring with them the perceptions,
insights and wisdom that they have gained, which language is usually inadequate to
describe and some of which will not be appropriate for the conventional, relational,
differentiated world because they are high, transcendent spiritual and not material
perceptions.

Having glimpsed some transcendent heights, it is time to return to our map.

CREATING A MAP OF THE SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE

We have now overviewed six paths of spirituality:
1) The beginning of the walk
2) The path of nature spirituality
3) The path of purgation
4) The path of inner illumination
5) The path of Unity
6) The path of Transcendent negation
We have seen that there is a development or loose hierarchy in these paths, such that
they are increasingly transcendent ways of behaving in relation to Spirit. There is
therefore a loose correlation or relationship with the various spiritual perspectives or
categories that we considered earlier, because they too progress in a hierarchy of
transcendence. Those conceptual categories were:
A) A-spiritual materialistic realm
B) The realm of the soul
C) The realm of spirits
D) Theism or the realm of deities
E) Transendantism
Within these main categories we also outlined some sub categories:
A-spiritual materialistic realm
Ai) Apathy
Aii) Materialism
Aiii) Anti - spirituality
The realm of the soul
Bi) Human soul

Bii) Non-human souls

Biii) One primary Soul
The realm of spirits
Ci) Fairyfolk
Cii) Spirits and nature spirits
Theism or the realm of deities
Di) Polytheism
Dii) Monotheism
Diii) Pantheism
Div) Panentheism
E) Transendantism

If we place the conceptual forms (A E) along a horizontal line such that the most
transcendent conceptualisation is at the right hand side, then we can place the various
paths (1 6) in a vertical line on the left of this, with the most transcendent path at the
top. This then gives us a grid or matrix of spiritual transcendence, where the bottom
left hand corner is the least transcendent and most mundane position and the top right
hand corner is the most transcendent and least mundane, reflecting both a
transcendent perspective and a transcendent practice:
Path
6
* most transcendent
5
4
3
2
1 * least transcendent
A Bi Bii Biii Ci Cii Di Dii Diii Div E
For the moment, we can group all non-spiritual perspectives and practices (Ai, Aii
and Aiii) into one category: Category A. We then have a series of co-ordinated cells
referenced by Category/Path number, for example Bi4, or Dii5. This gives a
description of a particular position on the spiritual landscape. If we now frame each of
these referenced cell positions in the form of a descriptive statement, we can then rate
how much we agree or disagree with each descriptive statement in turn. This rated
matrix would then give us a profile of our spiritual position and degree of
transcendence. Near neutral scores would reveal a position of indecision, apathy - (Ai)
- OR a lack of understanding of the statement. Negative scores would indicate a
position of opposition or resistance (Aiii). A high score in column A would indicate a
materialistic viewpoint and practice (Aii). Conversely, a low score in column A would
reveal an anti-materialistic, and therefore spiritual viewpoint.
As we move to the transcendent category E, there is in many ways less differentiation
than we might have thought between Category E and Category A, the main difference
being that category A deals with Ultimates as impersonal Forces and Energies such as
in quantum physics, whereas Category E insists that there is intention, purpose and

will to be found almost immediately as Absolute Spirit contracts though such

qualities are not present as attributes in Absolute Spirit per se. This closeness means
that we can as it were wrap this matrix around horizontally to form a cylinder, such
that columns A and E end up next to each other.
In the same way, we can as it were squeeze in the top and bottom of the matrix such
that what we end up with is a sphere or globe of latitude and longitude lines. As we do
this, we can add as it were, 'polar' regions both to the north and south. The 'polar'
region at the north or top of the sphere represents the Transcendent Unknown and
we can say nothing about it because we cannot understand it, comprehend it or
conceptualise except as Unknown and in the main Unknowable. The 'polar' region at
the south or base of the sphere refers to the non-transcendent realm - the Ground and
Foundation of existence which is non-the-less still unknown or unknowable. We do
not fully understand the fundamental principles of what underpins matter and that lack
of understanding is what this part of the sphere represents. Since in spiritual terms, the
Unknown Ground and the Transcendent Unknown are one and the same Undifferentiated, Unknowable, Formless Absolute Spirit we can join the polar
regions together changing the framework from a globe to a hoop or donut shape,
where the two Unknowns meet in the middle.
This hoop or donut does is not reality either material or incorporeal. This
donut/hoop and its precursor, the matrix, is a representation of our spiritual conceptual
framework it is one way of organising our concepts related to spirituality,
transcendence and spiritual paths or behaviour. We overlay such conceptual
frameworks onto reality but they are not inherent in that reality itself.

APPLYING THIS MAP

What we can do now is create a series of statements that reflect each of the cells in
this matrix. Each statement will reflect both a sub-category and a path. We can then
rate how much we agree or disagree with each statement. This would then form a
rating grid that we can interrogate and analyse.

MATERIALISM DIFFERENTIATED
For the purposes of creating this matrix, I have grouped a number of materialistic
paths into one category, Category A. For the purposes of greater differentiation of
materialistic behaviour in relation to spirituality and transcendence, we can describe
two paths within the materialistic framework that exist outside of the spiritual paths
listed in the matrix. These are omitted in the map purely to enable simplicity of
correlating ratings. However these paths emerge again in the ratings that are given in
the matrix, as we shall see.

PART THREE: ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

Now we need to make sense of your rating scores. To do this you will need another
piece of paper, a pen or pencil and a calculator will help.
When you have completed the test, you should have seventy-two rating scores each
linked to a question number. On your piece of paper draw columns and lines on it like
this:
6
5
4
3
2
1
PrS

Bi

Bii

Biii

Ci

Cii

Di

Dii

Diii

Div

You now have a matrix grid of 6 lines and 12 columns. Go back through the questions
and you will see that at the end of each statement there is a code that looks something
like this: Dii3. In this case, this means that you must place your rating in column Dii
and line 3, like this:

6
5
4
3

* your rating here

2
1
PrS

Bi

Bii

Biii

Ci

Cii

Di

Dii

Diii

Div

Do this now with all your rating scores.

When you have done this you will have 72 rating scores arranged in 6 lines and 12
columns.

Total up the scores for each line and for each column.
Add together the total scores of columns PrS and A.
Add together the total scores of columns Bi right through to E.
Add together each pair of scores for each line in columns PrS and A.
Add together the ten scores for each line in columns Bi right through to E

We are now ready to analyse or interrogate your matrix of ratings.

a) General breadth and depth of transcendent ideas and practice

First of all there is your total score for columns Bi right through to E. In theory, this
could be up to plus (+) 300 and down to minus () 300. But it will be somewhere in
between. But this total figure is far too general to have much meaning on its own. You
may have a reasonably strong transcendent monotheistic viewpoint, but you may also
have a strong opposition to certain other forms of transcendent thinking and
behaviour, such that you may disagree with the notion of say polytheism on the one
hand and on the other, you may believe in and accept the idea that there are a panoply
of spirit-beings but be opposed to working with such spirits which you may tend to
see as mischievous and deceitful. Both of these negative ratings would offset your
total general score of transcendence. This total general transcendence score can be
refined if you simply total up the positive (+) scores from the columns and ignore the
biasing effects of the negative (-) scores.
The score in column A in particular reflects a general attitude to materialistic thinking
and practice. If this is a positive (+) rating then the columns Bi through to E should be
negative (-). If the score in column A is negative (-) then at least one or more of the
columns Bi through to E should be positive (+). A positive rating in column A AND
in any of the columns Bi through to E indicates potential contradictions in thought and
concept. One cannot be a materialist and spiritual. However a negative rating in
column A (-) does not mean that all of the columns Bi through to E should be positive
(+). A person may reject all spiritual categories except say polytheism, which they
may strongly agree with and this is enough to give them a negative score in column
A. They have a transcendent viewpoint, a spiritual outlook that is strongly centred on
the notion of polytheism, which means that they are not materialistic, even though
they may also rejects notions of the soul, spirits and other theistic ideas. If we are
materialistic then we are not spiritual, and if we subscribe to just one transcendent
category, then we cannot be materialistic.

b) Scope of transcendence

Take a look at your total scores for the columns. Is there a wide distribution of
positive (+) scores such that a lot of columns have a positive total score? Or on the
other hand, are there just one or two columns with a positive score whereas the others
have neutral or negative scores? A wide range of positive total scores across the
columns reveals an acceptance of a wide scope of notions of transcendence where one
is sympathetic to and accepting of many different perspectives and ideas within
spirituality. If just one or two columns have positive scores, then this reveals a more
narrow focus on particular transcendent philosophies or theologies. Negative scores in
a column indicate opposition to that category of transcendent spirituality. A broad
swathe of negative scores across most columns indicates a broad and general
opposition to transcendent spirituality whereas negative scores in just one or two
columns indicate opposition to particular forms of transcendent spirituality.

c) Depth of transcendence
Take a look again at your total scores for the columns but this time look at the values
of the total scores. The highest or lowest value that you can have in any column is
plus (+) 30 or minus (-) 30. The higher the value - whether it is positive or negative the greater the depth of response. A high negative value in a column indicates quite
strong opposition to the ideas and practices represented in this category column. (We
shall see what these ideas are in a moment). A high positive value in a column
indicates a strong agreement with the ideas and practices represented in that category
column.

d) Intensity of transcendence
Take a look again at your total scores for the columns but this time look at the column
with the highest value, whether it is negative or positive. This would seem to indicate
strongest point and the point to which you most likely gravitate to. This may take the
form of positive acceptance or negative rejection and disagreement. Now look at the
scores in the columns either side. They may have a reverse polarity to your highest
value column for example, you may score +20 in your highest value column, say
Dii, but the columns either side, columns Di and Diii may score minus () 10 and ()
12 respectively. Conversely your highest value column may be say column Di with a
score of minus () 22, but columns Cii and Dii may score +15 and +12 respectively.
A reverse of polarity like this indicates a viewpoint and practice that is intense and
narrowly focussed. The more polarised the values, that is the greater the difference
between the totals of these columns, the more dogmatic or even bigoted the viewpoint
may be. This opposition may be in a category that a person has just moved from. The
negative response indicates a distancing and moving away from this category into the
category with the highest positive (+) score.

e) Categories of spirituality
What do the individual columns represent? They reflect different categories within
and outside of spirituality in general. The columns are as follows:

A) Materialism
PrS) Proto-science Some forms of alchemy, astrology and magic
B) The realm of the soul
Bi) Human soul
Bii) Non-human souls
Biii) One primary Soul
C) The realm of spirits
Ci) Fairy folk
Cii) Spirits and nature spirits
D) Theism or the realm of deities
Di) Polytheism
Dii) Monotheism
Diii) Pantheism
Div) Panentheism
E) Transendantism
Take a look again at your total scores for the columns and look again at the column
with the highest value, whether it is negative or positive, note the code letter and
check which of these categories that column represents. If it is positive (+) then you
subscribe to this category either of spirituality, materialism or proto-science. If it is
negative, then you disagree with this particular category of spirituality, materialism or
proto-science. If it is a near neutral value then you are either apathetic and
disinterested or you do not understand the statement in the questionnaire.

f) A movement to transcendence
From left to right, these columns follow increasingly transcendent lines of thought
and concept. For example, on the far left we have materialistic thought a philosophy
that is not sympathetic to spiritual or transcendent realms at all. These ideas are
reflected in columns PrS and A. A high score here should give low or negative scores
in the other columns indicating a strong sense of the material and physical as the only
reality and spiritual transcendence as being something of a myth or delusion. The
further you are to the right of this matrix, the more transcendent your
conceptualisations and perceptions are. On the extreme right on the other hand, is the
kind of transcendent non-dualistic thinking and conceptualisation employed by
mystics such as Shankara or Eckhart. High scores towards this end of the matrix
should produce correspondingly low or negative scores in column A. Transcendent
thought only begins in column Bi Column A is pure materialism and Column PrS is
proto-science, which, whilst it may sometimes have an appearance of transcendent or
spiritual thought, ultimately has a foundation in materialistic philosophy also.

g) Scope of spiritual practice or religious behaviour

Ignoring columns A and PrS, add up your total ratings for each of the lines. Looking
across the totals for each of the lines, is there a wide distribution of positive (+) scores
such that a lot of lines have a positive total score? Or on the other hand, are there just
one or two lines with a positive score whereas the others have neutral or negative
scores? A wide range of positive total scores across these lines reveals the acceptance
of or involvement in a wide scope of spiritual practices where one is sympathetic to
many different religious or spiritual behaviours and approaches. If just one or two
lines have positive scores, then this reveals a more narrow focus on particular spiritual
or religious practices. The reverse is also true where negative scores are the result. A
negative score on a line indicates an opposition to that particular religious or spiritual
path. A broad swathe of negative scores across most lines indicates a broad and
general opposition to spiritual or religious practices or behaviour.
Now add up your total scores for each of the lines just in columns A and PrS. Looking
across the totals for each of the lines just for these two columns, is there a wide
distribution of positive (+) scores such that a lot of lines have a positive total score?
Or on the other hand, are there just one or two lines with a positive score whereas the
others have neutral or negative scores? A wide range of positive total scores across
the lines of these two columns reveals a wide scope of practice consistent with a
materialistic viewpoint. If just one or two lines have positive scores, then this reveals
a more narrow focus on particular aspects of materialistic behaviour. Negative scores
on the other hand infer some support of transcendent spiritual practice. A broad
swathe of negative scores across most lines for these two columns infers a broad and
general support for spiritual practices or behaviour.

h) Depth of spiritual or religious practice

Take a look again at your total scores for the lines of these two column groups (A and
PrS; and Bi through to E) but this time look at the values of the total scores. The
highest or lowest value that you can have in any line in the two-column group is plus
(+) 10 to minus (-) 10. The highest or lowest value that you can have in any line in the
ten-column group is plus (+) 50 to minus (-) 50. The higher the value - whether it is
positive or negative - the greater the depth of your response.
A high negative value for a line indicates quite strong opposition to the practices
represented in this line. (We shall see what these are in a moment). A high positive
value for a line indicates a strong agreement with the practices represented in that
line. As we have seen before, the two-column group refers to practices and behaviours
consistent with a materialistic, non-transcendent viewpoint, so a positive rating here
indicates agreement with these behaviours, whereas a negative rating infers openness
to or support for non-materialistic, spiritual related behaviours. In contrast, the tencolumn group refers to practices and behaviours consistent with a more transcendent
or spiritual outlook, so a positive rating here indicates support and acceptance of
behaviours and practices linked to transcendent, spiritual perspectives. A negative
rating suggests an outlook more consistent with materialism, and even an opposition
to or resistance to certain spiritual paths and religious behaviour.

i) Intensity of religious practice

Take a look again at your total ratings for the lines in the two column groups, but this
time look at the line with the highest value, whether it is negative or positive. This
would seem to indicate your specific gravity as it were, in relation to spiritual paths or
religious practice it is the strongest point and the point to which you most likely
gravitate to. This may take the form of positive acceptance or negative rejection. Now
look at the scores in the lines just above and below this high scoring line. They may
have a reverse polarity to your highest value line for example, you may score +20 in
your highest value line, say line 3, but the lines either side, line 2 and Line 4 may
score minus () 10 and () 12 respectively. Conversely your highest value line may be
say line 4 with a score of minus () 22, but line 3 and line 5 may score +15 and +12
respectively. A reverse of polarity like this indicates a religious or spiritual practice
that is intense and narrowly focussed to the exclusion of other approaches. The more
polarised the values, that is the greater the difference between the totals of these
adjacent lines, the more dogmatic or entrenched the religious behaviour may be.
Moderately high negative values in a line like this may indicate a path or religious
practice that one has forsaken or that one is seeking to distance oneself from in favour
of another approach, probably the one with the highest positive score.
As before, the two column groups represent opposite approaches: Column group A
and PrS deals with materialistic viewpoints so positive scores on these lines represent
an acceptance of materialistic practices. Column group Bi through to E represents
different aspects of spiritual and transcendent thinking, so positive scores on lines in
this column group represents an acceptance of spiritual paths and practices.

j) Categories of religious practice

What do the individual lines represent? They represent different ways of approaching
the spiritual dimension, and are based on the 'Ways' outlined in classical theology.
They are:
1) The beginning of the spiritual walk
2) The path of nature spirituality
3) The path of purgation
4) The path of inner illumination
5) The path of Unity
6) The path of Transcendent negation
It is generally accepted that as we progress through these paths from 1 to 6, there is an
increasing level of transcendent practice, with 6 being the most transcendent path of
all.
Take a look again at your total scores for the lines and look again at the line in each of
the two column groups that gives the highest value, whether it is negative or positive.
Note the line number and check which of these paths that this line represents. If it is
positive (+) then you subscribe to this path either of spirituality, materialism or protoscience. If it is negative, then you disagree with this particular path of spirituality,
materialism or proto-science. If it is a near neutral value then you are either apathetic,
disinterested or do not understand this approach or practice.

From lines 1 to 6, these lines follow increasingly transcendent ways of behaving. For
example, in path 1 we have the very beginnings of interest in transcendent spirituality,
where the person starts to actively inquire about some aspect of the transcendent. A
high score here indicates a person who is starting out or inquiring about some new
aspect of spirituality. The further we ascend these lines on this matrix, the more
transcendent our behaviours and practices are. At the top, is the kind of transcendent
non-dualistic thinking and conceptualisation employed by mystics such as Shankara
or Eckhart. High scores towards this top end of the matrix indicate a tendency to
transcendent behaviour.

k) Putting lines and columns together belief and practice

What we have in this matrix then is levels of transcendence reflected not only by a
movement from left to right, but also in a movement from the bottom to the top. This
means that the top right hand corner is perhaps the most transcendent spiritual
position because it is farthest to the right and at the top. But anywhere around the top
line and right hand side column is a pretty transcendent position, with columns
representing ideas and concepts and lines leaning towards behaviour and practice.
This means that you can now select your highest positive scoring cell or cells and see
where you fall on the (horizontal) materialistic-transcendent conceptualisation and the
(vertical) mundane-transcendent practice matrix. You can also find highest negative
rated cell or cells and see where your main resistance or opposition lies. The higher
the values, then the greater the acceptance/resistance of this particular
concept/behaviour group are.

l) Compound or simple spirituality

Take a look again at the general distribution of your scores. Do your high positive or
negative scores just centre on a few of the cells, or are your high ratings clustered
over a wider range of cells? If your high value cells are limited to a small group, this
indicates a simple, well-defined spiritual philosophy and practice. On the other hand,
if your high ratings are spread over quite a range of cells, this indicates a more
complex, compound structure of belief and practice, where a number of different
elements of spiritual thinking and practice are combined together. Christianity is an
example of a more compound structure, since it spans belief in human souls, a
panoply of spirits of angels and demons and a single God. It also adopts a range of
practices mainly centred on path 3 but spilling over into others around it.
m) Apathy or just don't understand?
Take a look now at your neutral scores that is, ratings that are around zero or plus or
minus one. These low scores indicate either an apathy or disinterest in this particular
area, or they may reflect the fact that you did not really understand the
concept/practice duality that was represented in the statement in the questionnaire. If
you refer back to the questions that you rated as zero, you will soon be able to tell
whether your rating reflects apathy or a greater need for explanation of the concept.

You will also be able to tell which areas of the matrix apathy and/or lack of
understanding relate to.

n) Widening the application

In this project, you have explored your approach to transcendent concepts and
practices, situating yourself in classifications on a conceptual map of spirituality and
transcendence. You have explored what you think and feel and how you behave in
relation to spirituality and in doing so, you have again orientated yourself with regard
to classifications on this map. But you could widen the application to explore where
you think, say, Christianity falls on this map. In addition, you could do a similar
analysis of say Islam, and then see how to two compare where they are similar and
where they are different.
What this approach has not done is to compare and outline the different beliefs and
philosophies of different religions in this way. It does not situate you into Christianity,
or Islam, or Buddhism. It has gone beneath the surface ideas of these religions to the
deeper currents and ideas that inform their doctrines about and relations to the
transcendent spiritual realm. Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all monotheistic, yet
they work out sometimes quite a different set of ideas on what that means in practice
and concept. Butt there is a real sense that these religions are all at a similar level of
transcendence, or have similar levels of transcendence within them and that is what
will be reflected here.

o) Materialism category differentiated

For the purposes of creating this matrix, I have grouped a number of materialistic
paths into one category: Category A. For the purposes of greater differentiation of
materialistic thought and behaviour in relation to spirituality and transcendence, we
can describe two paths within the materialistic framework, both of which exist outside
of the spiritual paths listed in the matrix. These two paths were omitted purely to
enable simplicity in sorting your ratings. However these paths emerge in the ratings
given in the matrix, as we shall see. These two non-transcendent paths are:

PATH 0i - THE PATH OF SPIRITUAL DISINTEREST

There are of course many people who are not interested in spirituality or religion of
any kind. However, if they are pressed or harassed about spiritual matters, such
people may well turn to anger or ridicule. (Path 0ii below). The people here in this
path (0i) are simply not engaged in spiritual matters they do not pray, go to worship,
read spiritual literature or engage in any religious practice or discipline. Such
behaviour is seen as irrelevant, pointless, not worth the effort and so on. They are not
seeking after spiritual truth or particularly against ideas of spirituality or those who
follow religion they are just not interested, having no desires after God or
spirituality. At best, if engaged in debate, they may be idly curious - gaining
entertainment from the mischievous cut and thrust of the debate rather than being
engaged in the content itself. Any transcendental or mystical 'spiritual' experiences

would be understood by them purely in material terms such as altered states of

consciousness due to altered brainwave patterns and so on. As we have seen, scores of
near zero may indicate this approach, but such scores may also indicate uncertainty or
lack of understanding.

PATH 0ii - THE PATH OF SPIRITUAL OPPOSITION

There are of course also many people who may be hostile to spirituality or religion of
any kind and may even be hostile to those who advocate spirituality and religious
practice. They may be insolent or arrogant and may ridicule spiritual beliefs and
practices and may even blaspheme or misuse sacred things. They may mock those
who follow spirituality and generally despise them or treat them with disdain even to
the point of falsely accusing them. They certainly do not practice any form of spiritual
discipline themselves and regard spirituality and religion as woolly-headed
sentimental nonsense, or a sign of weakness at best or the cause of many troubles and
conflicts in the world at worst. These people are engaged in spirituality, but in a
negative way. The opposition may be against spirituality and/or religion in general, or
it may be specifically targeted against one category of religion or spirituality or
against a particular spiritual path. Negative scores in this project indicate this attitude
of opposition.

p) Beginning to investigate spirituality

The bottom line of the matrix represents a beginning curiosity about each of the
categories. Thus cell Bi1 reflects a person starting to inquire as to whether they have a
soul or not. The higher the score in one of these line 1 cells, the more one is engaged
in starting to explore that particular area of spirituality. A negative score here means
that the person is either opposed to even starting to think about the area concerned, or
is opposed to that area of spirituality or is already well-established in that area. A
negative score therefore in cell Bi1 means that the person either does not want to start
to think about the possibility of having a soul, or is opposed to even starting to think
about such an idea, or they are already well established in their views about having a
soul so they do not need to start to think about it again.

q) Your personal spiritual matrix code.

Taking all the above into consideration, you can now produce a 12 figure personal
spiritual matrix code based on how you have answered this questionnaire. This is
rather like a dna analysis code, except that it represents your subjective assessment of
elements of your thought/behaviour patterns with regard to spirituality and
transcendence. Because the bottom line is concerned only with beginnings and initial
investigations into aspects of spirituality, this line will be ignored. So, to total up your
established code of transcendence, total up the values in each of the columns, ignoring
the bottom value (line 1). You will then have 12 numbers. Create a space between the
first pair of totals and the remaining ten, because the first pair of numbers are to do
with mundane, non-transcendent thought and behaviour. You will then have a code
something like this:

-15 20

5 -10 -12 -12 10 -20 20 -20 5 0

From all the above discussion and analysis, you know what category of spirituality
each number refers to, you know that the higher the value, the greater your response
be it negative opposition or positive acceptance. You know that values near zero
represent either apathy or a lack of understanding of the concepts involved. You know
that the further to the right your highest value is, then the more transcendent your
outlook and behaviour is. You know that the more narrow your range of positive
values are that is, if there are only one or two positive values then the scope of your
spirituality is narrow and selective. If you have five, six or more positive numbers,
then you have a broad acceptance of spiritual ideas and practice. You know that if
adjacent values to your highest value number have a reverse sign (- or +), then your
spiritual views are even more particular and selective. You know that the first two
numbers refer to a materialistic perspective and that if one or more of these are
positive values, then if you are consistent in your thoughts and behaviours, the
remaining numbers referring to spirituality, should be negative.
Finally however, in reducing the lines of the matrix to one line, some differentiation
of data has been lost.

A free copy of the questionnaire in the form of an Excel spreadsheet is available from
http://www.4shared.com/office/QFKLGvdi/SPIRITUAL_MATRIX_GRID_QUESTI
ON.html

Notes
Magic and world religions:

In Judaism
Genuine Kabbalah is meant to delve into the hidden and mystical aspects of the Torah
that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and should not be confused with superstitious
or magical practices, which are antithetical to traditional Jewish values.

In Christianity
Christianity viewed magic with suspicion from the time of the Church fathers. It was,
however, never completely settled whether there might be permissible practices, e.g.
involving relics or holy water as opposed to 'blasphemous' necromancy involving the
invocation of souls. The distinction became particularly pointed and controversial
during the Early Modern witch-hunts, with some authors such as Johannes Hartlieb
denouncing all magical practice as blasphemous, while others portrayed natural magic
as not sinful.
The position taken by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, one of the foremost Renaissance
magicians, is ambiguous. The character of Faustus, likely based on a historical 16th
century magician or charlatan, became the prototypical popular tale of a learned
magician who succumbs to a pact with the devil.
The current Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses divination and magic under
the heading of the First Commandment. It is careful to allow for the possibility of
divinely inspired prophecy, but it rejects 'all forms of divination'. All forms of
divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or
other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil' the future. Consulting horoscopes,
astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of
clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time,
history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate
hidden powers. They contradict the honour, respect, and loving fear that we owe to
God alone.

'Attempts to tame occult powers' in order to 'have supernatural power over others' are
denounced as 'gravely contrary to the virtue of religion', notably avoiding a statement
on whether such attempts can have any actual effect (that is, attempts to employ
occult practices are identified as violating the First Commandment because they in
themselves betray a lack of faith, and not because they may or may not result in the
desired effect).
The Catechism expresses scepticism towards widespread practices of folk magic
without outlawing them explicitly. The wearing of charms is reprehensible. Spiritism
often implies divination or magical practices and the Church for her part warns the
faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the
invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.
Some argue that the recent popularity of the prosperity gospel constitutes a return to
magical thinking within Christianity. Note also that Gnostic Christianity has a strong
mystical current, but shies away from practical magic and focuses more on theurgy.
Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature,
performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or
more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and
perfecting oneself.

In Islam
Any discussion of Muslim magic poses a double set of problems. On the one hand,
like its counterpart in predominantly Christian cultures, orthodox leaders and legal
opinions forbid magic. On the other hand, translating various Arabic terms as 'magic'
causes another set of problems with no clear answers. As with any question regarding
the behaviour of Muslims in relation to authorized practices, theological decisions
begin by consulting the Qur'an. The second chapter introduces an explanation for the
introduction of magic into the world: They followed what the evil ones gave out
(falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers were, not Solomon, but the
evil ones, teaching men magic, and such things as came down at Babylon to the
angels Harut and Marut. But neither of these taught anyone (such things) without
saying: 'We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme.' They learned from them the
means to sow discord between man and wife. But they could not thus harm anyone
except by Allah's permission. And they learned what harmed them, not what profited
them. And they knew that the buyers of (magic) would have no share in the happiness
of the Hereafter. And vile was the price for which they did sell their souls, if they but
knew! (Q 2:102).
Though it presents a generally contemptuous attitude towards magic (Muhammad was
accused by his detractors of being a magician), the Qur'an distinguishes between
apparent magic (miracles sanctioned by Allah) and real magic. The first is that used
by Solomon, who being a prophet of Allah, is assumed to have used miraculous
powers with Allah's blessing. Muslims also believe that Allah made an army of Djinn
obedient to him. The second form is the magic that was taught by the 'evil ones', or alshayatin. Al-shayatin has two meanings; the first is similar to the Christian Satan. The
second meaning, which is the one used here, refers to a djinn of superior power. The
al-shayatin taught knowledge of evil and 'pretended to force the laws of nature and the

will of Allah . . .' According to this belief, those who follow this path turn themselves
from Allah and cannot reach heaven. The Arabic word translated in this passage as
'magic' is sihr. The etymological meaning of sihr suggests that 'it is the turning . . . of
a thing from its true nature . . . or form . . . to something else which is unreal or a mere
appearance . . .'
By the first millennium CE, sihr became a fully developed system in Islamic society.
Within this system, all magicians 'assert[ed] that magic is worked by the obedience of
spirits to the magician.' The efficacy of this system comes from the belief that every
Arabic letter, every word, verse, and chapter in the Qur'an, every month, day, time
and name were created by Allah a priori, and that each has an angel and a djinn
servant. It is through the knowledge of the names of these servants that an actor is
able to control the angel and djinn for his or her purposes.
The Sunni and Shia sects of Islam typically forbid all use of magic. The Sufis within
these two sects are much more ambiguous about its use as seen in the concept of
'Barakah'. If magic is understood in terms of Frazer's principle of contagion, then
'barakah' is another term that can refer to magic. 'Barakah', variously defined as
'blessing', or 'divine power', is a quality one possesses rather than a category of
activity. According to Muslim conception, the source of barakah is solely from Allah;
it is Allah's direct blessing and intervention conferred upon special, pious Muslims.
Barakah has a heavily contagious quality in that one can transfer it by either
inheritance or contact. Of all the humans who have ever lived, it is said that the
Prophet Muhammad possessed the greatest amount of barakah and that he passed this
to his male heirs through his daughter Fatima. Barakah is not just limited to
Muhammad's family line; any person who is considered holy may also possess it and
transfer it to virtually anyone else. In Morocco, barakah transfer can be accomplished
by sharing a piece of bread from which the possessor has eaten because saliva is the
vessel of barakah in the human body. However, the transference of barakah may also
occur against the will of its possessor through other forms of physical contact such as
hand shaking and kissing. The contagious element of barakah is not limited to humans
as it can be found in rocks, trees, water, and even in some animals, such as horses.
Just how the actor maintained obedience depended upon the benevolence or
malevolence of his practice. Malevolent magicians operated by enslaving the spirits
through offerings and deeds displeasing to Allah. Benevolent magicians, in contrast,
obeyed and appeased Allah so that Allah exercised His will upon the spirits. Al-Buni
provides the process by which this practice occurs: First: the practitioner must be of
utterly clean soul and garb. Second, when the proper angel is contacted, this angel
will first get permission from God to go to the aid of the person who summoned him.
Third: the practitioner 'must not apply . . .[his power] except to that purpose [i.e. to
achieve goals] which would please God.' However, not all Islamic groups accept this
explanation of benevolent magic. The Salafis particularly view this as shirk, denying
the unity of Allah. Consequently, the Salafis renounce appellations to intermediaries
such as saints, angels, and djinn, and renounce magic, fortune telling, and divination.
This particular brand of magic has also been condemned as forbidden by a fatwa
issued by Al-Azhar University. Further, Egyptian folklorist Hasan El-Shamy, warns
that scholars have often been uncritical in their application of the term sihr to both
malevolent and benevolent forms of magic. He argues that in Egypt, sihr only applies
to sorcery. A person who practices benevolent magic 'is not called saahir or sahhaar

(sorcerer, witch), but is normally referred to as shaikh (or shaikha for a female), a title
which is normally used to refer to a clergyman or a community notable or elder, and
is equal to the English title: 'Reverend.''
The best-known type of magical practice is the spell; a ritualistic formula intended to
bring about a specific effect. Spells are often spoken or written or physically
constructed using a particular set of ingredients. The failure of a spell to work may be
attributed to many causes, such as a failure to follow the exact formula, to the general
circumstances not being conducive, to a lack of magical ability, to a lack of willpower
or to fraud.
Another well-known magical practice is divination, which seeks to reveal information
about the past, present or future. Varieties of divination include: Astrology, Augury,
Cartomancy, Chiromancy, Dowsing, Fortune telling, Geomancy, I Ching, Omens,
Scrying, Extispicy and Tarot reading.
Necromancy is a practice that claims to involve the summoning of, and conversation
with, souls of the dead. This is sometimes done simply to commune with deceased
loved ones; it can also be done to gain information from the spirits, as a type of
divination; or to command the aid of those spirits in accomplishing some goal, as part
of casting a spell.
Varieties of magic can also be categorized by the techniques involved in their
operation. One common means of categorization distinguishes between contagious
magic and sympathetic magic, one or both of which may be employed in any magical
work. Contagious magic involves the use of physical ingredients that were once in
contact with the person or a thing that the practitioner intends to influence.
Sympathetic magic involves the use of images or physical objects that in some way
resemble the person or thing that one hopes to influence; voodoo dolls are an
example. Sir James Frazers The Golden Bough proposed this dichotomy.
Other common categories given to magic include High and Low Magic (the appeal to
divine powers or spirits respectively, with goals lofty or personal, according to the
type of magic). Another distinction is between 'manifest' and 'subtle' magic. Subtle
magic typically refers to magic of legend, gradually and sometimes intangibly altering
the world, whereas manifest magic is magic that immediately appears as a result.
Academic historian Richard Kieckhefer divides the category of spells into
psychological magic, which seeks to influence other people's minds to do the
magician's will, such as with a love spell, or illusionary magic, which seeks to conjure
the manifestation of various wonders. A spell that conjures up a banquet, or that
confers invisibility on the magician, would be examples of illusionary magic. Magic
that causes objective physical change, in the manner of a miracle, is not
accommodated in Kieckhefer's categories.

Magical traditions
Another method of classifying magic is by 'traditions', which in this context typically
refer to complexes or 'currents' of magical belief and practice associated with various

cultural groups and lineages of transmission. Some of these traditions are highly
specific and culturally circumscribed. Others are more eclectic and syncretistic. These
traditions can compass both divination and spells.
When dealing with magic in terms of 'traditions', it is a common misconception for
outsiders to treat any religion in which clergy members make amulets and talismans
for their congregants as a 'tradition of magic', even though what is being named is
actually an organized religion with clergy, laity, and an order of liturgical service.
This is most notably the case when Voodoo, Palo, Santera, Taoism, Wicca, and other
contemporary religions and folk religions are mischaracterized as forms of 'magic', or
even as 'sorcery.'

Deities:
Some deities are asserted to be the directors of time and fate itself, to be the givers of
human law and morality, to be the ultimate judges of human worth and behaviour, and
to be the designers and creators of the Earth or the universe. In the English language,
the common noun god is equivalent to deity, while the proper noun God (capitalized)
references the unique deity of monotheism. Pantheism considers the universe itself to
be a deity. Dualism is the view that there are two deities: a deity of good who is
opposed and thwarted by a deity of evil, of equal power. Manichaeism,
Zoroastrianism, and Gnostic sects of Christianity are, or were, dualist. Polytheism
asserts the existence of several deities, who together form a pantheon. Monolatry is a
type of polytheism in which deities are believed to exert power only on those who
worship them. Henotheism is a form of polytheism in which only one deity is
worshipped.

Some terms defined:

AVATAR, meaning 'descent' is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of
the Supreme Being (i.e., Vishnu for Vaishnavites) and is mostly translated into
English as 'incarnation,' but more accurately as 'appearance' or 'manifestation'.
APPARITION: This usually refers to a ghostly appearance, or the appearance of
something strange and unexpected. Inherent in the idea of apparition is the idea of
something actually, objectively appearing 'out there' such that people gathered
together would all see the phenomenon. 'Manifestation' does not necessarily contain
the same inherent idea. The manifestation is to the mind of the Pilgrim, such that one
Pilgrim may be aware of a manifestation whilst the Pilgrim sitting next to them may
not.
APPEARANCE This word has a similar connotation to 'materialisation' and
'apparition'. It means to emerge, to come into existence, as in the appearance of the
first daffodils of spring. Thus this word tends to refer to some outward or external
phenomena.

EPIPHANY. An appearance of a God, the manifestation of a Divine Being. It may

also refer to a sudden realisation, a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially
through an ordinary but striking occurrence. This is from the Greek 'epiphaneia' to
manifest, to show. Thus the word seems to refer to either external objective or internal
subjective events.
HIEROPHANY. A manifestation of the Divine or sacred, especially in a sacred place.
In the words of Eliade, (Mercia Eliade [1907-86]), hierophanies serve to separate the
sacred from the profane: by virtue of its connection with locality, the sacred is no
longer Absolute, because the otherwise abstract Absolute has limited itself in order to
become manifest. Thus, hierophany is in a paradoxical sense, an act of sacred or
divine veiling because of the inherent necessity for self-limitation. Because, therefore,
only some aspect of the divine or sacred can be manifested, such manifestations may
be named after the aspect revealed. e.g. theophany (of divinity), kratophany (of
power).
INCARNATION. There is a sense in which all that exists is an incarnation of the
Absolute, since all that exists is an expression of contracted-God. In this contraction
to form, God is not diluted or fragmented all things, including are humans are fully
God, contracted to a holarchy of forms. Thus, the Limitless is bounded, the Formless
formed, the One expressed in many. In Christianity, the Incarnation is reserved for
Jesus Christ, where God becomes man and the two natures, human and divine co-exist
yet remain distinct in the Person and body of Christ. In some religions, incarnation
means one of a series of lives spent in the bodies of animals and humans. This idea is
often linked to Karma. Incarnation may also have a similar meaning to
materialisation, in the sense of divine visitations
MANIFEST(ATION) To appear, be revealed, come into form; to make evident to the
senses. All things may be seen as a manifestation of God-as-Spirit or Energy - the
Absolute. Or this may be used to refer to the many forms or manifestations of aspects
of God: the Absolute and Formless contracted and revealed in a form that declares
aspects and qualities of the Formless. These many and varied forms are appropriate to
the individuals they are revealed to, and sensitive to their culture, location and time.
Such forms may be reified into Deities, Gods and Goddesses, Spirits and Devils. Each
manifestation has its own domain. These uses are not the same as materialisation.
MATERIALISATION To assume physical or material form. In materialisation, a
non-material spirit-being becomes physical material.
REINCARNATION: The idea that the life force of the physical body does not die
with the physical body, but goes on living in a spirit world for some time until being
reborn on earth in a condition usually determined by the quality of the previous
existence(s). This doctrine is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religious
traditions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism; the Buddhist concept of rebirth is
also often referred to as reincarnation. The idea was also fundamental to some Greek
philosophers as well as other religions, such as Druidism, and later on, Spiritism,
Theosophy, and Eckankar. It is also found in many small-scale societies around the
world, in places such as Siberia, West Africa, North America, and Australia. The
word 'reincarnation' derives from Latin, literally meaning, 'entering the flesh again'.
The Greek equivalent metempsychosis roughly corresponds to the common English

phrase 'transmigration of the soul' and also usually connotes reincarnation after death,
as either human, or animal, though emphasising the continuity of the soul, not the
flesh. The entire universal process that gives rise to the cycle of death and rebirth,
governed by karma, the concept of 'action' or 'deed', understood as that which causes
the entire cycle of cause and effect referred to as Samsara.
RESURRECTION The idea that the life force, or soul of the physical body does not
die but returns to God until the end of time, when the physical body is reformed and
merged again with the soul. An alternative view negates the idea of a soul, such that
death introduces the idea of non-existence until the body is reformed and brought to
life at the end of time by God. For example, in Christianity there is a resurrection to
Life and a resurrection to Death following the Judgement of God.
THEOPHANY. The appearance of a God in visible form to a human being. Literally,
it means 'appearance of the gods'. This suggests a meaning similar to 'materialisation',
'apparition' or 'appearance', in that external, objective events seem to occur.