Meditative intuition

Reality can only be grasped, if that is the word, via meditative intuition. The answers are intuited but cannot be articulated. When they are, they lead to paradoxes, like Reality is not one, not many, neither not one not many, and so on...There are several questions.

• Why are the most important truths only available to mystical contemplation?
• Why is it so that after they are made available through meditative techniques they cannot (must not?) be articulated to reason?

I suspect that Wilber and his fellow transpersonalists (and certainly Hegel and Plotinus who were not meditators) derived their position first philosophically, and then tried to perpetrate it via teaching and practices. The Absolute, the Spirit, Void, was too big for them to grasp via intellect, so had to come up with paradoxical terms to validate their gut-worldview. This has to have been the case with Hegel who was a philosopher. And probably with Plotinus.

The next point has to do with Wilber's elevation of the mystical practice to science. Of all transcendentalists he knows science. I do take his meaning and does an honorable job. A creative job even...

I suggest the following truly independent test: take 100 intelligent ego-staged persons and have them meditate for 3 years. OK, they can be given injunction on how to concentrate on breath, candle, and mantra, whatever. Check them 3 years later and collect their thoughts. If they reproduce Hegel, Aurobindo, Nagarjuna, if they even say that the Absolute is neti neti, or “one taste”, Wilber's point is proven. Without such a confirmation, it is questionable...

But even he has to shoehorn Plotinus, Eckhart, and Hegel to totally conform to the perennial philosophy. Besides, as I have pointed out, these thinkers have not arrived at their view via the meditative technique advocated by Wilber as the way to grasping Reality. As an aside, his selective quotes form the New Testament and Paul are really poor and totally taken out of context. posted by Paul Hoffman Saturday, June 04, 2005 at 2:31 PM Random musings paulhoffman@paulhoffman.com