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(2018) Practical spirituality and human development, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Concrete and abstract realities

Henk de Weijer

pp. 155-177

Before Newton, theology, mathematics, and physics were at best united in a triangle with theology at the top and mathematics and physics at the bottom. He replaced theology by observation and put empirical research and logical analysis at the bottom of the triangle. After his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica was printed in 1687, theology lost its primacy to physics. The accuracy of Newton's approach resulted in a revolutionary insight into the principle of gravity. His method was not only leading in questions about balance and moving objects but applicable to every form of physical reality.What a falling apple cannot bring about! Yet, apples, keyboards, and monitors are not the only objects we are confronted with. Poems, music, paintings, messages, and programmes of requirements and demands not only result in objective, mechanical reactions but also result in subjective emotions, deep feelings, or creative impulses. An external expression is preceded by a subjective processing that will lead to an adapted internal image, called quale. Such image is something, rather than nothing and, even though it is abstract, must be based on a substratum. What are these abstract forms made of and what is their subtle substratum? With our present knowledge, it is not possible to answer the question. For that, a new vision, a new paradigm, based on a new ontology, is required.The moment has come when a subtle vision will act as a catalyst in the interpretation of both objective and subjective activities. The cause of all interpretations was, and still is, the mind. What is that mind, what is its substratum, and what is its composition? How does it work, and how did it evolve and from which level in the hierarchical organisation of life? How does the objective world influence perception in simple and complex minds? What in micro-organisms react to environmental conditions and seek possibilities to develop a best fitting form? The answer lies with tiny, local forms of consciousness, called "microvita," which are complementary to the already known local forms of energy.This chapter is intended as a helping hand to gain some insight into a new approach.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-0803-1_11

Full citation:

de Weijer, H. (2018)., Concrete and abstract realities, in A. K. Giri (ed.), Practical spirituality and human development, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 155-177.

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