The term Multidimensional is used in Multi-Dimensional Science and implies the existence of many worlds or rather an infinite number of them. In the context of MDS they are essentially non-physical.
he adjective multidimensional describes anything with many different parts or aspects. You might talk about your relationship with the next door neighbor as multidimensional if, say, he's also your teacher, and if his son is married to your older sister.
Describing something as multidimensional implies that it's complex. You could talk about a multidimensional book filled with intricate themes, characters, plots, and symbols; or you could even call a person multidimensional if she had a particularly complicated personality. The word dimension forms the root of multidimensional, so if you imagine "many dimensions," you'll have a clear idea of what the word means.
Definitions of multidimensional
adjective
having or involving or marked by several dimensions or aspects
In mathematical systems theory, a multidimensional system or m-D system is a system in which not only one independent variable exists (like time), but there are several independent variables.
Important problems such as factorization and stability of m-D systems (m > 1) have recently attracted the interest of many researchers and practitioners. The reason is that the factorization and stability is not a straightforward extension of the factorization and stability of 1-D systems because, for example, the fundamental theorem of algebra does not exist in the ring of m-D (m > 1) polynomials.
A state-space model is a representation of a system in which the effect of all "prior" input values is contained by a state vector. In the case of an m-d system, each dimension has a state vector that contains the effect of prior inputs relative to that dimension. The collection of all such dimensional state vectors at a point constitutes the total state vector at the point.
Consider a uniform discrete space linear two-dimensional (2d) system that is space invariant and causal. It can be represented in matrix-vector form as follows:[3][4]
Represent the input vector at each point by , the output vector by the horizontal state vector by and the vertical state vector by . Then the operation at each point is defined by:
where and are matrices of appropriate dimensions.
These equations can be written more compactly by combining the matrices:
Given input vectors at each point and initial state values, the value of each output vector can be computed by recursively performing the operation above.
A discrete linear two-dimensional system is often described by a partial difference equation in the form:
where is the input and is the output at point and and are constant coefficients.
To derive a transfer function for the system the 2d Z-transform is applied to both sides of the equation above.
Transposing yields the transfer function :
So given any pattern of input values, the 2d Z-transform of the pattern is computed and then multiplied by the transfer function to produce the Z-transform of the system output.
Often an image processing or other md computational task is described by a transfer function that has certain filtering properties, but it is desired to convert it to state-space form for more direct computation. Such conversion is referred to as realization of the transfer function.
Consider a 2d linear spatially invariant causal system having an input-output relationship described by:
Two cases are individually considered 1) the bottom summation is simply the constant 1 2) the top summation is simply a constant . Case 1 is often called the “all-zero” or “finite impulse response” case, whereas case 2 is called the “all-pole” or “infinite impulse response” case. The general situation can be implemented as a cascade of the two individual cases. The solution for case 1 is considerably simpler than case 2 and is shown below.
Example: all zero or finite impulse response[edit]
The state-space vectors will have the following dimensions:
and
Each term in the summation involves a negative (or zero) power of and of which correspond to a delay (or shift) along the respective dimension of the input . This delay can be effected by placing ’s along the super diagonal in the . and matrices and the multiplying coefficients in the proper positions in the . The value is placed in the upper position of the matrix, which will multiply the input and add it to the first component of the vector. Also, a value of is placed in the matrix which will multiply the input and add it to the output . The matrices then appear as follows:
^Bose, N.K., ed. (1985). Multidimensional Systems Theory, Progress, Directions and Open Problems in Multidimensional Systems. Dordre http, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company.
^Bose, N.K., ed. (1979). Multidimensional Systems: Theory and Applications. IEEE Press.
^ Jump up to:abTzafestas, S.G., ed. (1986). Multidimensional Systems: Techniques and Applications. New York: Marcel-Dekker.
^ Jump up to:abKaczorek, T. (1985). Two-Dimensional Linear Systems. Lecture Notes Contr. and Inform. Sciences. Vol. 68. Springer-Verlag.
Inontologyand thephilosophy of mind, anon-physical entityis anobjectthat exists outside physical reality. The philosophical schools ofidealismanddualismassert that such entities exist, whilephysicalismasserts that they do not. Positing the existence of non-physical entities leads to further questions concerning their inherent nature and their relation to physical entities.[1]
Philosophers generally do agree on the existence of abstract objects. The mind can conceive of objects that clearly have no physical counterpart. Such objects include concepts such as numbers, mathematical sets and functions, and philosophical relations and properties. If such objects are indeed entities, they are entities that exist only in the mind itself, not within space and time. For an example, an abstract property such as redness has no presence in space-time.[2][3] To make a distinction between metaphysics and epistemology, such objects, if they are to be considered entities, are categorized as logical entities to distinguish them from physical entities. The study of non-physical entities can be summarized by the question, "Is imagination real?" While older Cartesian dualists held the existence of non-physical minds, more limited forms of dualism propounded by 20th and 21st century philosophers (such as property dualism) hold merely the existence of non-physical properties.[4]
Dualism is the division of two contrasted or opposed aspects. The dualist school supposes the existence of non-physical entities, the most widely discussed one being the mind. But beyond that it runs into stumbling blocks.[5]Pierre Gassendi put one such problem directly to René Descartes in 1641, in response to Descartes's Meditations:
[It] still remains to be explained how that union and apparent intermingling [of mind and body …] can be found in you, if you are incorporeal, unextended and indivisible […]. How, at least, can you be united with the brain, or some minute part in it, which (as has been said) must yet have some magnitude or extension, however small it be? If you are wholly without parts how can you mix or appear to mix with its minute subdivisions? For there is no mixture unless each of the things to be mixed has parts that can mix with one another.
Descartes' response to Gassendi, and to Princess Elizabeth who asked him similar questions in 1643, is generally considered nowadays to be lacking, because it did not address what is known in the philosophy of mind as the interaction problem.[5][6] This is a problem for non-physical entities as posited by dualism: by what mechanism, exactly, do they interact with physical entities, and how can they do so? Interaction with physical systems requires physical properties which a non-physical entity does not possess.[7]
Dualists either, like Descartes, avoid the problem by considering it impossible for a non-physical mind to conceive the relationship that it has with the physical, and so impossible to explain philosophically, or assert that the questioner has made the fundamental mistake of thinking that the distinction between the physical and the non-physical is such that it prevents each from affecting the other.
Other questions about the non-physical which dualism has not answered include such questions as how many minds each person can have, which is not an issue for physicalism which can simply declare one-mind-per-person almost by definition; and whether non-physical entities such as minds and souls are simple or compound, and if the latter, what "stuff" the compounds are made from.[8]
Describing in philosophical terms what a non-physical entity actually is (or would be) can prove problematic. A convenient example of what constitutes a non-physical entity is a ghost. Gilbert Ryle once labelled Cartesian dualism as positing the "ghost in the machine". [9][10] However, it is hard to define in philosophical terms what it is, precisely, about a ghost that makes it a specifically non-physical, rather than a physical entity. Were the existence of ghosts ever demonstrated beyond doubt, it has been claimed that would actually place them in the category of physical entities.[10]
Purported non-mental non-physical entities include things such as gods, angels, demons, and ghosts. Lacking physical demonstrations of their existence, their existences and natures are widely debated, independently of the philosophy of mind.[11][12]
Balog, Katalin (2009). "Phenomenal Concepts". In McLaughlin, Brian P.; Beckermann, Ansgar; Walter, Sven (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind. Oxford Handbooks. ISBN9780199262618.
Brown, Stuart C. (2001). "Disembodied existence". Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction With Readings. Philosophy and the Human Situation Series. Routledge. ISBN9780415212373.
Campbell, Neil (2005). A Brief Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. Broadview Guides to Philosophy. Broadview Press. ISBN9781551116174.
Gracia, Jorge J. E. (1996). Texts: Ontological Status, Identity, Author, Audience. Suny Series in Philosophy. SUNY Press. ISBN9780791429020.
Jaworski, William (2011). Philosophy of Mind: A Comprehensive Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN9781444333688.
Jubien, Michael (2003). "Metaphysics". In Shand, John (ed.). Fundamentals of Philosophy. Routledge. ISBN9780415227100.
Malikow, Max (2009). Philosophy 101: A Primer for the Apathetic Or Struggling Student. University Press of America. ISBN9780761844167.
Montero, Barbara (2009). "The 'body' side of the mind-body problem". On the Philosophy of Mind. Cengage Learning philosophical topics. Cengage Learning. ISBN9780495005025.
Moreland, James Porter; Craig, William Lane (2003). "What is metaphysics?". Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. InterVarsity Press. ISBN9780830826940.
Richardson, R. C. (January 1982). "The 'Scandal' of Cartesian Interactionism". Mind. Oxford University Press. 91 (361): 20–37. doi:10.1093/mind/xci.361.20. JSTOR2253196.
Rosenberg, Alex; McShea, Daniel W. (2008). Philosophy of Biology: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge. ISBN9781134375387.
Having been born and raised in Iran, I always had an interest in Sufism, a spiritual practice aimed at the inner journey of self-exploration and knowing one’s “true self." Among the most famous thinkers of this philosophy in the West, are Rumi and Hafiz from Iran. In my opinion, Sufism resonates with psychological thinking of getting to know the "true self," and unshackling from the false perception of oneself, which is acquired from the environment, prejudices, and others. A belief that if we get to the core of our true being, we would be in harmony with the universe, and its creator.
I had the opportunity to learn about “Sufi psychology” at the Sufi Youth Conference, where I was invited to talk about my specialty: fear. There I met Dr. Saloumeh Bozorgzadeh, the president of the Sufi Psychology Association, and she agreed to tell me more about Sufi psychology. The questions are mine, the answers are hers:
What is Sufism?
Saloumeh: Sufism is a discipline in self-knowledge. The goal is for one to know themselves. Not just the physical dimension of their being, which consists of their personality, emotions, body, social identity, etc., but also the spiritual dimension. The part of ourselves where we gather our strength, courage, compassion. The ineffable part of us that, although all aspects of the physical dimensions are constantly changing, this part has remained stable and unaffected. The part that makes you, you.
How did you get involved with Sufism?
Saloumeh: I‘ve been going to the M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi®️School of Islamic Sufism®️ since I was a child. I would go with my father. However, as is part of the teachings of Sufism, you have to sort through what your true intention is with everything you do. You must separate out the things you do out of habit or due to social/cultural/familial expectations and customs, and truly explore what your goal and purpose is. That process was rather difficult because I realized how much I rely on and live my life based on the decisions that have been placed before and have been made for me. I noticed that I had a fear in determining what is best for me. I didn’t know and was crippled by making the “wrong” decision. The aspects that I knew as myself (my thoughts, emotions, etc.) all changed constantly. How could I possibly make a decision when the foundation that I am basing the decision on is so shaky?
The Sufi Master, Professor Sadegh Angha in his book Principles of Faghr and Sufism has said, “First you must know who you are, then you can determine what you need.” The fear and uncertainty of who I am when all my roles, customs, self-narratives have been stripped away is what made me actively seek out this path of self-knowledge and made me want to be a student of this school. There was no other option, I must learn who I am so I have something stable. As I learn more about who I am, the lessons also teach me a great deal about psychology and how we operate.
What is Sufi psychology?
Saloumeh: Sufi psychology is taking the principles and teachings of Sufism and applying them to contemporary psychology. Through this lens, our distress and pain stem from a lack of knowledge of who we are. We get caught up in the stories and limitations we tell ourselves, how the past has affected us, or fear of our ability to navigate circumstances in the future. All of this is because I don’t know who I am or what my capabilities are. Sufi psychology seeks to remind each individual that there is more to them than these aspects that are reactive to the environment. By going deeper into ourselves and tapping into the constant and stable part of my being, I am less likely to sway with what’s happening outside of me and the fluctuations that life has
How is it different from other ways of psychology?
Saloumeh: Western psychological practices focus on what was described above as the physical dimension. It helps us navigate our thoughts, emotions, and social relationships which are important for this dimension. Sufi psychology brings in the spiritual dimension. The Sufi Master, Professor Nader Angha, uses the analogy of a lamp [Wilcox, 1995, pg. 3]. Western psychology is focusing on all aspects of this lamp; is the wiring frayed, does the shade match the stand, is this the proper lamp for the room, etc. Sufi psychology is more concerned with the light source and plugging it in.
How is it different from other eastern philosophies?
Saloumeh: Each practice has its own paradigm, its own verbiage, which resonates with different people in different ways. To compare them is to isolate aspects of them for the purpose of comparison. This becomes reductionist which does not provide a comprehensive understanding of either. What I can say is that a student of Sufism seeks to know. It is not enough to observe ourselves, we want to know who the observer is, connect with it, and like a drop, annihilate the self-created boundaries and narratives and become the sea.
Arash: The metaphor I have heard often used is comparing "knowing about a river in India," vs. swimming in that river—totally different experiences.
Which area of psychology overlaps more with Sufi psychology?
Saloumeh: Humanistic psychology is the closest due to its focus on self-actualization. However, I should mention that in Sufi psychotherapy, we use other theoretical orientations as well. Current, psychological schools of thought are ways to provide relief to the physical dimension. They help us become aware of emotions and thoughts, adapt socially, explore the effects of the past and relationship patterns, target the experience of trauma in the body, etc. This is necessary for functioning in the world. With Sufi psychology we add another element, we aim to redirect clients to seek that source within. The essence which has remained constant and stable, and though all around us shifts, that “source of life” shines, without pause. Even in the most difficult moments, it is our companion.
References
Wilcox. L. (1995) Sufism and psychology. Abjad: Chicago.
The ideas of the EPRC is a good start in the right direction...However, Multi-Dimensional Science goes beyond it....
Escher's famous image
The Mission
What many might call “spiritual”, “mystical”, “energetic”, etc. experiences and effects, we refer to as emergent phenomena. We refer to practices designed to lead to emergent phenomena, such as meditation, psychedelics, yoga, prayer, etc., as emergent practices.
As emergent practices continue to scale up in society, our aim is to give health care systems, mental health providers, and those who are helping to teach and promote various practices the information they need in order to make better decisions about how to both promote the benefits of these practices and manage the various effects that they can produce.
The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium’s mission is to use ontologically-agnostic, multidisciplinary, first-person, psychometric, neurophenomenological, biochemical, and clinical scientific methods to conduct studies on emergent practices and phenomena to generate clinically-relevant information that can add value to practitioners, patients, clinicians, and healthcare systems.
By finding the skilfull overlap of the perspectives of science, spirituality, religion, clinical medicine, and mental health, we can generate outcomes that are as beneficial as possible for all concerned.
Charles Howard Hinton (1853 – 30 April 1907) was a British mathematician and writer of science fiction works titled Scientific Romances. He was interested in higher dimensions, particularly the fourth dimension. He is known for coining the word "tesseract" and for his work on methods of visualising the geometry of higher dimensions.
Hinton's father, James Hinton, was a surgeon and advocate of polygamy. Charles Hinton was born in the United Kingdom. His siblings included the costume designer Ada Nettleship (1856 – 1932).[1]
In 1880 Hinton married Mary Ellen, daughter of Mary Everest Boole and George Boole, the founder of mathematical logic.[4] The couple had four children: George (1882–1943), Eric (*1884), William (1886–1909)[5] and Sebastian (1887–1923) (inventor of the jungle gym and father of William and Joan Hinton).
In 1883 he went through a marriage ceremony with Maud Florence, by whom he had had twin children, under the assumed identity of John Weldon. He was subsequently convicted of bigamy and spent three days in prison, losing his job at Uppingham.[6] His father James Hinton was a radical advocate of polygamous relationships,[7] and according to Charles' mother James had once remarked to her: "Christ was the saviour of Men but I am the saviour of Women and I don't envy him a bit."[8]
In 1887 Charles moved with Mary Ellen to Japan to work in a mission before accepting a job as headmaster of the Victoria Public School. In 1893 he sailed to the United States on the SS Tacoma to take up a post at Princeton University as an instructor in mathematics.[6]
In 1897, he designed a gunpowder-powered baseball pitching machine for the Princeton baseball team's batting practice.[6][9] The machine was versatile, capable of variable speeds with an adjustable breech size, and firing curve balls by the use of two rubber-coated steel fingers at the muzzle of the pitcher.[10] He successfully introduced the machine to the University of Minnesota, where Hinton worked as an assistant professor until 1900, when he resigned to move to the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.[6]
At the end of his life, Hinton worked as an examiner of chemical patents for the United States Patent Office. At age 54, he died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage on 30 April 1907 in Washington, D.C.[11][12] After Hinton's sudden death his wife, Mary Ellen, committed suicide, also in Washington, D.C., in May 1908.[13]
Frontispiece to Charles Howard Hinton's 1904 book The Fourth Dimension, illustrating the tesseract, the four-dimensional analog of the cube. Hinton's spelling varied: also known, as here, "tessaract".
In an 1880 article entitled "What is the Fourth Dimension?", Hinton suggested that points moving around in three dimensions might be imagined as successive cross-sections of a static four-dimensional arrangement of lines passing through a three-dimensional plane, an idea that anticipated the notion of world lines. Hinton's explorations of higher space had a moral basis:
Hinton argues that gaining an intuitive perception of higher space required that we rid ourselves of the ideas of right and left, up and down, that inheres in our position as observers in a three-dimensional world. Hinton calls the process "casting out the self", equates it with the process of sympathizing with another person, and implies the two processes are mutually reinforcing.[14]
Hinton created several new words to describe elements in the fourth dimension. According to the OED, he first used the word tesseract in 1888 in his book A New Era of Thought. Alicia Boole Stott, his sister in law who knew him at Oxford supervised the publication of the book whilst he was abroad.[15] He also invented the words kata (from the Greek for "down from") and ana (from the Greek for "up toward") to describe the additional two opposing fourth-dimensional directions (an additional 4th axis of motion analogous to left-right (x), up-down (y), and forwards-backwards (z)).[16]
Hinton's Scientific romances, including "What is the Fourth Dimension?" and "A Plane World", were published as a series of nine pamphlets by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. during 1884–1886. In the introduction to "A Plane World", Hinton referred to Abbott's recent Flatland as having similar design but different intent. Abbott used the stories as "a setting wherein to place his satire and his lessons. But we wish in the first place to know the physical facts." Hinton's world existed along the perimeter of a circle rather than on an infinite flat plane.[17] He extended the connection to Abbott's work with An Episode of Flatland: Or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension (1907).
An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension… (1907)[edit]
An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension, to which is bound up An Outline of the History of Unæa[18] made its public debut in 1907, even receiving a paragraph review (though not particularly flattering) in the British scientific journal Nature (1907).[19] The action plays out in the planar world of two-dimensional "Astria" with the primary characters partaking in various adventures, scientific and romantic. Ultimately, some "Astrians" come to accept and comprehend the reality and fullness of three-dimensions in a world beyond their immediate comprehension. The book consists of a Preface, Introduction, a post-introductory section titled The History of Astria, and the Episode (referred to in the title) composed of twenty short chapters. Overall, it is longer than Edwin A. Abbott's novella Flatland… (1884); Hinton's narrative contains approximately 53,720 words.
Hinton's work combines various literary and scientific features, with the author intent on popularizing the idea of "higher dimensions" among educated Edwardian readers including such diverse groups as religious thinkers and believers, experimental scientists, artists, stodgy academics, engineers, politicians, and others of various persuasions and agendas. Recognizing the existence of, and even reaching, a "higher dimension" was not simply part and parcel to a strictly mathematical game; for Charles H. Hinton (1907), during an era when spiritualism (with the obligatory séances) was running rampant, it was important to point the way toward a higher realm of existence in both intellectual and genuinely spiritual terms.
He judged A Vindication of Eternity to be less unsatisfactory, perhaps. The first volume documents the diverse eternities that mankind has invented, from Parmenides' static Being to Hinton's modifiable past; the second denies (with Francis Bradley) that all the events of the universe constitute a temporal series.[21]
Hinton influenced P. D. Ouspensky's thinking. Many of ideas Ouspensky presents in "Tertium Organum" mention Hinton's works.
Hinton's "scientific romance", the "Unlearner", is cited by John Dewey in Art as Experience, chapter 3. The story described by John Dewey is actually titled "An Unfinished Communication" and is part of the second series of "Scientific Romances". The Unlearner is a character in this story, which might explain why John Dewey confused the title of the story.
Hinton is the main character in Carlos Atanes's play Un genio olvidado (Un rato en la vida de Charles Howard Hinton) ("A Forgotten Genius (The Life and Time of Charles Howard Hinton)"). The play premiered in Madrid during May 2015, and was published in May 2017.
Hinton is mentioned several times in Alan Moore's graphic novel From Hell; his theories regarding the fourth dimension form the basis of the book's final chapter. His father, James Hinton, appears in chapters 4 and 10.[citation needed]
He is mentioned twice in Aleister Crowley's novel Moonchild. The first mention mistakenly names his father, James Hinton.
Speculations on the Fourth Dimension: Selected Writings of Charles H. Hinton, edited by Rudolf Rucker, 1980, Dover Publications, ISBN0-486-23916-0 (includes selections from Scientific Romances, The Fourth Dimension, "The Recognition of the Fourth Dimension" from the 1902 Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, and excerpts from An Episode of Flatland)
An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension orig 1907, Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Limd., uncut illustrated HTML version online at Forgotten Futures
^Broadbent, Lizzie (21 January 2021). "Ada Nettleship (1856-1932)". Women Who Meant Business. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
^Several of these references are cited in the introduction to the book Speculations on the Fourth Dimension, edited by Rudolf Rucker.
'^My Right To Die', Woman Kills Self in The Washington Times v. 28 May 1908 (PDF); Mrs. Mary Hinton A Suicide in The New York Times v. 29 May 1908 (PDF).
Psychonautics (from the Ancient Greekψυχήpsychē 'soul, spirit, mind' and ναύτηςnaútēs 'sailor, navigator')[1] refers both to a methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness, including those induced by meditation or mind-altering substances, and to a research cabal in which the researcher voluntarily immerses themselves into an altered mental state in order to explore the accompanying experiences.[2]
The term has been applied diversely, to cover all activities by which altered states are induced and utilized for spiritual purposes or the exploration of the human condition, including shamanism, lamas of the TibetanBuddhist tradition,[3]sensory deprivation,[1] and archaic/modern drug users who use entheogenic substances in order to gain deeper insights and spiritual experiences.[4] Self-experimentation of psychedelics in groups may foster innovation of alternative medication treatment.[5] A person who uses altered states for such exploration is known as a psychonaut.
The term psychonautics derives from the prior term psychonaut, which began appearing in North American works in the late 1950s. The first reference that corresponds to contemporary usages of the term was in the 1965 edition of the Group Psychotherapy journal. A 1968 magazine, Beyond Baroque, refers to Timothy Leary as a psychonaut.[citation needed]
German author Ernst Jünger used the term to describe Arthur Heffter in his 1970 essay on his own extensive drug experiences Annäherungen: Drogen und Rausch (literally: "Approaches: Drugs and Inebriation").[1][6] In this essay, Jünger draws many parallels between drug experience and physical exploration—for example, the danger of encountering hidden "reefs."
Clinical psychiatrist Jan Dirk Blom describes psychonautics as denoting "the exploration of the psyche by means of techniques such as lucid dreaming, brainwave entrainment, sensory deprivation, and the use of hallucinogenics or entheogens", and a psychonaut as one who "seeks to investigate their mind using intentionally induced altered states of consciousness" for spiritual, scientific, or research purposes.[1]
Psychologist Dr. Elliot Cohen of Leeds Beckett University and the UK Institute of Psychosomanautics defines psychonautics as "the means to study and explore consciousness (including the unconscious) and altered states of consciousness; it rests on the realization that to study consciousness is to transform it." He associates it with a long tradition of historical cultures worldwide.[9] Leeds Beckett University offers a module in Psychonautics[10][11] and may be the only university in the UK to do so.[citation needed]
American Buddhist writer Robert Thurman depicts the Tibetan Buddhistmaster as a psychonaut, stating that "Tibetan lamas could be called psychonauts, since they journey across the frontiers of death into the in-between realm."[3]
The aims and methods of psychonautics, when state-altering substances are involved, is commonly distinguished from recreational drug use by research sources.[1] Psychonautics as a means of exploration need not involve drugs, and may take place in a religious context with an established history. Cohen considers psychonautics closer in association to wisdom traditions and other transpersonal and integral movements.[9]
However, there is considerable overlap with modern drug use and due to its modern close association with psychedelics and other drugs, it is also studied in the context of drug abuse from a perspective of addiction,[2] the drug abuse market and online psychology,[12] and studies into existing and emerging drugs within toxicology.[4]
Icaros, which are the songs (i.e. something verbal that is ordinarily perceived as an auditory sensation) the Ayahuasceros sing to induce pictorial representations, rich tapestries of colors and patterns that are visually seen by the listener. (See: synesthesia) The ayahuasca ingredient, harmine, was once known as telepathine because of this group-facilitated activity of singing icaros and the shared perception it cultivates. A shaman who is one of the Ayahuascero people is expected to memorize as many icaros as they can.[citation needed]
Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) refers to all forms of music-imaging in an expanded state of consciousness, including not only the specific individual and group forms that music therapist and researcher Helen Bonny developed, but also all variations and modifications in those forms created by her followers.
These may be used in combination; for example, traditions such as shamanism may combine ritual, fasting, and hallucinogenic substances.
One of the best known psychonautic works is Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, which recounts his experience after taking 400mg of mescaline.[14][15][16][17] The American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, writer and inventor John C. Lilly was a well-known psychonaut. Lilly was interested in the nature of consciousness and, amongst other techniques, he used isolation tanks in his research.[18]
Among the most influential figures are undoubtedly Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin who together authored PiHKAL and TiHKAL, a pair of books which contain fictionalized autobiographies and detailed notes on over 230 psychoactive compounds. Some present-day psychonauts refer to themselves as "Shulginists" to denote a belief in the principles they identify in Shulgins' work.[21]
^Schifano, Fabrizio; Leoni, Mauro; Martinotti, Giovanni; Rawaf, Salman; Rovetto, Francesco (August 2003). "Importance of Cyberspace for the Assessment of the Drug Abuse Market: Preliminary Results from the Psychonaut 2002 Project". CyberPsychology & Behavior. 6 (4): 405–410. doi:10.1089/109493103322278790. PMID14511453.
^ Jump up to:abDoyle, Richard M. (2011). Darwin's Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noösphere. University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0-295-99095-8.
^ Jump up to:abCarpenter, Dan (2006). A Psychonaut's Guide to the Invisible Landscape: The Topography of the Psychedelic Experience. Park Street Press. ISBN978-1-59477-090-6.
Pages from a 14th century version of the manuscript.
Picatrix is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Arabic: غاية الحكيم), which most scholars assume was originally written in the middle of the 11th century,[1] though an argument for composition in the first half of the 10th century has been made.[2] The Arabic title translates as The Aim of the Sage or The Goal of The Wise.[3] The Arabic work was translated into Spanish and then into Latin during the 13th century, at which time it got the Latin title Picatrix. The book's title Picatrix is also sometimes used to refer to the book's author.
Picatrix is a composite work that synthesizes older works on magic and astrology. One of the most influential interpretations suggests it is to be regarded as a "handbook of talismanic magic".[4] Another researcher summarizes it as "the most thorough exposition of celestial magic in Arabic", indicating the sources for the work as "Arabic texts on Hermeticism, Sabianism, Ismailism, astrology, alchemy and magic produced in the Near East in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D."[5]Eugenio Garin declares, "In reality the Latin version of the Picatrix is as indispensable as the Corpus Hermeticum or the writings of Albumasar for understanding a conspicuous part of the production of the Renaissance, including the figurative arts."[6] It has significantly influenced West European esotericism from Marsilio Ficino in the 15th century, to Thomas Campanella in the 17th century. The manuscript in the British Library passed through several hands: Simon Forman, Richard Napier, Elias Ashmole and William Lilly.
According to the prologue of the Latin translation, Picatrix was translated into Spanish from the Arabic by order of Alphonso X of Castile at some time between 1256 and 1258.[7] The Latin version was produced sometime later, based on translation of the Spanish manuscripts. It has been attributed to Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti (an Andalusian mathematician), but many have called this attribution into question. Consequently, the author is sometimes indicated as "Pseudo-Majriti".
The Spanish and Latin versions were the only ones known to Western scholars until Wilhelm Printz discovered an Arabic version in or around 1920.[8]
The work is divided into four books, which exhibit a marked absence of systematic exposition. Jean Seznec observed, "Picatrix prescribes propitious times and places and the attitude and gestures of the suppliant; he also indicates what terms must be used in petitioning the stars." As an example, Seznec then reproduces a prayer to Saturn from the work, noting that Fritz Saxl has pointed out that this invocation exhibits "the accent and even the very terms of a Greek astrological prayer to Kronos. This is one indication that the sources of Picatrix are in large part Hellenistic.":
O Master of sublime name and great power, supreme Master; O Master Saturn: Thou, the Cold, the Sterile, the Mournful, the Pernicious; Thou, whose life is sincere and whose word sure; Thou, the Sage and Solitary, the Impenetrable; Thou, whose promises are kept; Thou who art weak and weary; Thou who hast cares greater than any other, who knowest neither pleasure nor joy; Thou, the old and cunning, master of all artifice, deceitful, wise, and judicious; Thou who bringest prosperity or ruin, and makest men to be happy or unhappy! I conjure thee, O Supreme Father, by Thy great benevolence and Thy generous bounty, to do for me what I ask [...][9]
According to Garin:
The work's point of departure is the unity of reality divided into symmetrical and corresponding degrees, planes or worlds: a reality stretched between two poles: the original One, God the source of all existence, and man, the microcosm, who, with his science (scientia) brings the dispersion back to its origin, identifying and using their correspondences.[10]
According to the Prologue, the author researched over two hundred works in the creation of Picatrix. [11] However, there are three significant Near/Middle Eastern influences: Jabir ibn Hayyan, the Brethren of Purity, and ibn Wahshiyya's Nabataean Agriculture. The influence of Jabir ibn Hayyan comes in the form of a cosmological background that removes magical practices from the context of diabolical influences and reasserts these practices as having a divine origin. The author of Picatrix utilizes Neoplatonic theories of hypostasis that mirror the work of Jabir ibn Hayyan.[12][13]
According to Scholem, the following passage from the Picatrix (itself similar to a passage in an earlier Hermetic text called the Secret of Creation) tracks very closely with the Kabbalistic concept of tselem:[18]
When I wished to find knowledge of the secrets of Creation, I came upon a dark vault within the depths of the earth, filled with blowing winds. ... Then there appeared to me in my sleep a shape of most wondrous beauty [giving me instructions how to conduct myself in order to attain knowledge of the highest things]. I then said to him: "Who are you?" And he answered: "I am your perfected nature."
The Arab historian, Ibn Khaldun, in his Muqaddimah, ascribed authorship of Picatrix (referring to the original Arabic version, under the title Ġāyat al-Ḥakīm غاية الحكيم ) to the astronomer and mathematician Maslama Al-Majriti, who died between 1005 CE and 1008 CE (398 AH).[19] This attribution is problematic: the author of the Arabic original states[20] in its introduction that he completed the book on 348 AH, which is ~ 959 CE. Moreover, the author states that he started writing the Picatrix after he completed his previous book, Rutbat al-Ḥakīm رتبة الحكيم in 343 AH (~ 954 CE).[21] This makes the authoring more than five decades before Al-Majriti's death, and if his estimated birth year is to be accepted, he would be only around 5 years old when he started writing it. As well, according to Holmyard, the earliest manuscript attribution of the work to Maslama al-Majriti was made by the alchemist al-Jildaki, who died shortly after 1360, while Ibn Khaldun died some 20 years later. However, no biography of al-Majriti mentions him as the author of this work.[22]
More recent attributions of authorship range from "the Arabic version is anonymous" to reiterations of the old claim that the author is "the celebrated astronomer and mathematician Abu l-Qasim Maslama b. Ahmad Al-Majriti".[23] One recent study in Studia Islamica suggests that the authorship of this work should be attributed to Maslama b. Qasim al-Qurtubi (died 353/964), who according to Ibn al-Faradi was "a man of charms and talismans".[24] If this suggestion is correct it would place the work in the context of Andalusiansufism and batinism.[25]
The odd Latin title is sometimes explained as a sloppy transliteration of one "Buqratis", mentioned several times in the second of the four books of the work.[26] Others have suggested that the title (or the name of the author) is a way of attributing the work to Hippocrates (via a transcription of the name Burqratis or Biqratis in the Arabic text).[27] Where it appears in the Arabic original, the Latin text does translate the name Burqratis as Picatrix, but this still does not establish the identity of Burqratis. Ultimately, linking the name, Picatrix, with Hippocrates,[28][29] has fallen into disfavor because the text separately cites Hippocrates under the name Ypocras.[30]
Martin Plessner suggests that a translator of the Picatrix established a medieval definition of scientific experiment by changing a passage in the Hebrew translation of the Arabic original, establishing a theoretical basis for the experimental method: "the invention of an hypothesis in order to explain a certain natural process, then the arranging of conditions under which that process may intentionally be brought about in accordance with the hypothesis, and finally, the justification or refutation of the hypothesis, depending on the outcome of the experiment".
Plessner notes that it is generally agreed that awareness of, "the specific nature of the experimental method–as distinct from the practical use of it–is an achievement of the 16th and 17th centuries." However, as the passage by the translator of the Hebrew version makes clear, the fundamental theoretical basis for the experimental method was here established prior to the middle of the 13th century.
The original passage in Arabic describes how a man who witnessed a treatment for a scorpion's sting (drinking a potion of frankincense that had received seal imprints) had gone on to experiment with different types of frankincense, assuming that this was the cause for the cure, but later found that the seal images were the cause for the cure, regardless of the substance upon which they were impressed. The author of the Picatrix goes on to explain how the explanation of the effectiveness of cures passed on to him by authorities was then proved to him by his own experience.
The Hebrew translator changed the passage in question to include the following:
And that was the reason which incited me [to devote myself to astrological magic]. Moreover, these secrets were already made known by Nature, and the experience approved them. The man dealing with nature has nothing to do but producing a reason of what the experience has brought out.
Plessner also notes that "neither the Arabic psychology of study nor the Hebrew definition of the experiment is rendered in the Latin Picatrix. The Latin translator omits many theoretical passages throughout the work."[31]
In exploring the cross-cultural circulation of the text Avner Ben-Zaken enlisted to the Picatrix's scholarship the “Yates thesis,” and argued that the text played a latent, though central, role in shaping the philosophy of Renaissance natural magic and in giving the stimulus needed to transform occultist notions into experimental science. For Renaissance thinkers unfriendly to the establishment, natural magic offered an alternative program for natural philosophy, and some turned it against Aristotelian philosophy, which they viewed as hegemonic. Moreover, these rebels presented natural magic as a scientific practice, a culture deeply grounded in non-European contexts. For Ficino and Pico, natural magic originated in the ancient Near East, brought Renaissance Europe through cross-cultural exchanges that involved Kabalistic texts and Arabic works on magic. For Agrippa, natural magic carried a new program for science, as well as new practices and new personas. For him, the magus—the new experimental naturalist—was a figure that first came to life in the ancient East. For Campanella, natural magic offered a bottom-up construction of natural philosophy that also entailed a new organization of society, in which reason and firsthand experience order both nature and society. All perceived Picatrix as a text that embodied both: a strong alternative program for the study of nature, and a strong cultural program for challenging European culture from outside. In imagining this alternative, they eventually returned their science to its historical point of origin, the East. Ficino, Agrippa, and in a sense Campanella pushed the argument further, laying a foundation for a heliocentric worldview, initiating the search for the hidden forces of nature, and casting the magician virtuoso as the godfather of natural philosophy. Thus, the Picatrix was essential for turning natural magic into philosophy, for transforming the magus into an experimentalist, and for transforming the practice of natural magic into an institutional system of education. It inspired the proposal that scholars shift their focus from Scholasticism to the distant sources of natural magic.[32]
Picatrix: Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-Magriti, aus dem Arabischen ins Deutsche übersetzt von Hellmut Ritter und Martin Plessner [Picatrix: The Goal of the Wise Man by Pseudo-Magriti, translated from Arabic into German by Ritter and Plessner]. London: Warburg Institute, 1962 (=Studies of the Warburg Institute 27).
Ouroboros Press has published the first English translation available in two volumes, Ouroborous Press (2002 Vol. 1 ASIN: B0006S6LAO) and (2008 Vol. 2) [2]
The Complete Picatrix: The Occult Classic Of Astrological Magic , Renaissance Astrology Press {2011}, 310 p., ISBN1-257-76785-2, English translation from Pingree's Latin critical edition by John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock.
^e.g Dozy, Holmyard, Samsó, and Pingree; David Pingree, 'Some of the Sources of the Ghāyat al-hakīm', in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 43, (1980), p. 2; Willy Hartner, 'Notes On Picatrix', in Isis, Vol. 56, No. 4, (Winter, 1965), pp. 438
^Maribel Fierro, "Bāṭinism in Al-Andalus. Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (died 353/964), Author of the 'Rutbat al- Ḥakīm' and the 'Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix)'" in: Studia Islamica, No. 84, (1996), pp. 87–112.
^However the Arabic translated as "goal" (ghaya, pl. ghayat) also suggests the sense of "utmost limit" or "boundary".
^Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Chicago, 1964; Frances Yates, The Art of Memory, Chicago, 1966
^David Pingree, 'Some of the Sources of the Ghāyat al-hakīm', inJournal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 43, (1980), pp. 1–15
^Eugenio Garin, Astrology in the Renaissance: The Zodiac of Life, Routledge, 1983, p. 47
^David Pingree, 'Between the Ghāya and Picatrix. I: The Spanish Version', in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 44, (1981), p. 27
^Willy Hartner, 'Notes On Picatrix', in Isis, Vol. 56, No. 4, (Winter, 1965), pp. 438–440; the Arabic text was published for the first time by the Warburg Library in 1927.
^Jean Seznec (Trans. Barbara F. Sessions), The Survival of the Pagan Gods: The Mythological Tradition and its Place in Renaissance Humanism and Art, Princeton University Press, 1995 (reprint), p. 53
^Eugenio Garin, Astrology in the Renaissance: The Zodiac of Life, Routledge, 1983, p. 49
^Later in the text, the author specifies two hundred fifty works. Bakhouche, Picatrix, p 37, 200
^Scholem, Gershom (1991). On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead: Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah. New York: Schocken Books. pp. 255–260. Related terms throughout the associated traditions include pure self, personal daemon, perfected nature (ha-teva ha-mushlam), and fathomless father of nature. Cf. guardian angel.
^Scholem 1991, p. 255. For the passage in the Secret of Creation, see Rosenthal, Franz (1975). The Classical Heritage in Islam. London: Routledge. pp. 246–247.
^Eugenio Garin, Astrology in the Renaissance: The Zodiac of Life, Routledge, 1983, p. 47
^Maribel Fierro, Bāṭinism in Al-Andalus. Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (died 353/964), Author of the Rutbat al- Ḥakīm and the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix), in Studia Islamica, No. 84, (1996), p. 93, 95
^H. Kahane et al. 'Picatrix and the talismans', in Romance Philology, xix, 1966, p 575; E.J. Holmyard, 'Maslama al-Majriti and the Rutba 'l-Hakim', in Isis, vi, 1924, p 294.
^Maribel Fierro, 'Bāṭinism in Al-Andalus. Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (died 353/964), Author of the "Rutbat al- Ḥakīm" and the "Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix)"', in Studia Islamica, No. 84, (1996), pp. 87–112
^Maribel Fierro, 'Bāṭinism in Al-Andalus. Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (died 353/964), Author of the "Rutbat al- Ḥakīm" and the "Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix)"', in Studia Islamica, No. 84, (1996), pp. 105–107
^Willy Hartner, 'Notes On Picatrix', in Isis, Vol. 56, No. 4, (Winter, 1965), pp. 438
^Bakhouche, Beatrice, Frederic Fauquier, and Brigitte Perez-Jean (Translators), Picatrix: Un traite de magie medieval, Turnhout: Brepols, p. 22 and 141
^Ritter, Hellmut and Martin Plessner (translators), "Picatrix:" Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-Magriti. London: Warburg Institute, 1962. p.XXII.
^See also: Willy Hartner, 'Notes On Picatrix', in Isis, Vol. 56, No. 4, (Winter, 1965), pp. 438
^Martin Plessner, "A Medieval Definition of Scientific Experiment in The Hebrew Picatrix" in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 36, (1973), pp. 358–359
^Avner Ben-Zaken, "Traveling with the Picatrix: Cultural Liminalities of Culture and Science", In Religious Individualization in Historical Perspective, (Berlin, 2019), pp. 1038-1068.[1]
We live under a materialist metaphysics: all that supposedly exists is matter, an abstract entity conceptually defined as being outside and independent of consciousness. This metaphysics is often conflated with science itself, even though the scientific method only allows us to determine how nature behaves, not what nature is in and of itself.
The mainstream cultural endorsement of metaphysical materialism became firmly established in the second half of the nineteenth century. Since then, however, its strength has been derived mainly from intellectual habit and inherited assumptions, not from clear reasoning, evidence or explanatory power. As a matter of fact, over the past few decades evidence has been accumulating in foundations of physics, neuroscience and analytic philosophy that materialism is false.
Nonetheless, the cultural prevalence of metaphysical materialism has myriad—and arguably dysfunctional—implications at both individual and social levels: it impacts our sense of meaning and purpose, our value systems, our understanding of health, disease and death, as well as the way we relate to others, the planet and even o
Our goals
Essentia Foundation aims at communicating, in an accurate yet accessible way, the latest analytic and scientific indications that metaphysical materialism is fundamentally flawed. Indeed, clear reasoning and the evidence at hand indicate that metaphysical idealism or nondualism—the notion that nature is essentially mental—is the best explanatory model we currently have. This is known in specialist communities, but hasn’t yet been openly communicated, in an accessible manner, to the culture at large. Essentia Foundation hopes to help close this communication gap.
Although we acknowledge that analytic or scientific understanding, in and of itself, isn’t life- or behavior-changing—only felt experience or knowledge by direct acquaintance is—in modern culture the intellect is the bouncer of the heart. Therefore, we aim to create intellectual space and legitimacy for the notion that, at its most fundamental level, all reality unfolds in an extended field of mentation.urselves.
Way of working
Essentia Foundation questions metaphysical materialism and argues for the plausibility of idealism by leveraging the exact same epistemic values our culture reifies today: coherence,internal logical consistency, conceptual parsimony, empirical adequacy and explanatory power. We show that, if applied objectively and consequently, these values point directly at idealism, while contradicting materialism.
Operationally, Essentia Foundation identifies and helps to promote scientific and philosophical work relevant to metaphysical idealism or nondualism. As such, we can be regarded as an information hub—strictly and thoroughly curated to weed out nonsense and pseudo-science—for the latest developments in science, analytic philosophy and other areas of scholarly work with a bearing on our culture’s metaphysical views. Our community of authors lists a growing number of academics, scholars, philosophers, scientists and authors whose works are opening the way for a new, more functional and true understanding of ourselves and reality at large.
Editorial commitment
Essentia Foundation is not philosophically neutral: we were created precisely to address an imbalance in how the metaphysical implications of results from science and philosophy are communicated by the media.
That said, you can expect from us editorial rigor, accuracy and careful selection of the material we choose to publish. Strict curation—erring rather on the side of caution in cases of high uncertainty—is what characterizes our approach. To put it simply, we only publish credible work. And although we do try to communicate in an accessible manner—dispensing with jargon and academic obscurantism as much as possible—we are committed to not allowing these simplifications to misrepresent the original material.
Again, Essentia Foundation shall never promote nonsense, pseudo-science or gullible, unsubstantiated claims of the kind often associated with mind-first ontologies in the popular culture. This is our firm commitment to you. Whatever you see in our material may be polemical—in the spirit that every major scientific or philosophical advancement has originally been polemical—but shall never be unsubstantiated, irrational or deceiving. In cases where the solidity or credibility of a relevant result isn’t clear, we consult our Academic Advisory Board before publishing it.
The following maybe of interest. It is an unusual way of trying to "measure" happiness or well being, but with Multi-Dimensional Science this might become a "serious" possibility with the "scientific" studies into inner energies of human beings...! A big subject yet to fullybe! RS
Thefelicific calculusis analgorithmformulated byutilitarianphilosopherJeremy Bentham(1747–1832) for calculating the degree or amount ofpleasurethat a specific action is likely to induce. Bentham, anethicalhedonist, believed the moral rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. The felicific calculus could, in principle at least, determine the moral status of any considered act. The algorithm is also known as theutility calculus, thehedonistic calculusand thehedonic calculus.
To be included in this calculation are several variables (or vectors), which Bentham called "circumstances". These are:
Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
Duration: How long will the pleasure last (its magnitude is composed)?
Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur (its probability)?
Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur (measured by its opposite)?
Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind (is measured from a pain).
Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind (from a pleasure).
Extent: How many people will be affected (for example the number of people)?
To take an exact account of the general tendency of any act, by which the interests of a community are affected, proceed as follows. Begin with any one person of those whose interests seem most immediately to be affected by it: and take an account,
Of the value of each distinguishable pleasure which appears to be produced by it in the first instance.
Of the value of each pain which appears to be produced by it in the first instance.
Of the value of each pleasure which appears to be produced by it after the first. This constitutes the fecundity of the first pleasure and the impurity of the first pain.
Of the value of each pain which appears to be produced by it after the first. This constitutes the fecundity of the first pain, and the impurity of the first pleasure.
Sum up all the values of all the pleasures on the one side, and those of all the pains on the other. The balance, if it be on the side of pleasure, will give the good tendency of the act upon the whole, with respect to the interests of that individual person; if on the side of pain, the bad tendency of it upon the whole.
Take an account of the number of persons whose interests appear to be concerned; and repeat the above process with respect to each. Sum up the numbers expressive of the degrees of good tendency, which the act has, with respect to each individual, in regard to whom the tendency of it is good upon the whole. Do this again with respect to each individual, in regard to whom the tendency of it is bad upon the whole. Take the balance which if on the side of pleasure, will give the general good tendency of the act, with respect to the total number or community of individuals concerned; if on the side of pain, the general evil tendency, with respect to the same community.[1]
To make his proposal easier to remember, Bentham devised what he called a "mnemonicdoggerel" (also referred to as "memoriter verses"), which synthesized "the whole fabric of morals and legislation":
Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure—
Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure. Such pleasures seek if private be thy end: If it be public, wide let them extend Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view:
Based on the first volume of his complete works there are four deriving classifications or distinct objects of civil law [2] that is known as known in his penal laws: of Security, Subsistence, Abundance, Equality. There are also four sanctions that he defined, they are: Physical, Political, Moral (this is as a result social or legal and can lead to popular sanction), and Religious.
“Sanctions. Since the Traites, others have been discovered. There are now, I. Human: six, viz. 1. Physical; 2. Retributive; 3. Sympathetic; 4. Antipathetic; 5. Popular, or Moral; 6. Political, including Legal and Administrative.
“II. Superhuman vice Religious: all exemplifiable in the case of drunkenness; viz. the punitory class.
“Note—Sanctions in genere duæ, punitoriæ et remuneratoriæ; in serie, septem ut super; seven multiplied by two, equal fourteen.
“The Judicatory of the popular or moral sanction has two Sections: that of the few, and that of the many: Aristocratical and Democratical: their laws, their decisions, are to a vast extent opposite.”[3]
Further, he bases a pleasure or a pain, or of benefit and mischief, that is in the method applied by knowing more of it from those seven above-mentioned references that are after to apply it to a respective purpose, else it is blindfolded. [4]
Property and law are born and must die together. Before the laws, there was no property: take away the laws, and all property ceases. [5]
Psychic perception may come to us through any of our five senses. If through the sense of sight, it is called “clairvoyance,” which literally means “to see clearly.” If through the sense of hearing, it is “clairaudience.” If through the sense of touch or feeling, it is “clairsentience.” If through the sense of smell, it’s called “clairolfaction.”
I don’t know what it’s called if the psychic information comes through the sense of taste, if there’s such a thing.
However, I have come across at least two persons who receive psychic information through the sense of smell. They discovered such a gift or talent in my class on ESP. Since they attended my seminars many years ago, I have never heard of anybody else with the same psychic ability. It seems this is not a very common one.
Interesting letter
But recently, I received a very interesting letter about this rare psychic ability from a reader named Karen Padayhag. Here’s her letter:
“After reading your book “Understanding The Psychic Powers of Man,” containing the different psychic manifestations, I was amazed. I remembered that I usually smell something different in places that are considered to be haunted or in funerals.
“During my father’s funeral, I smelled this unusual smell—and I continue to smell this in every funeral I go to.
“I also smell it in my school building for my class in home Economics (H.E). At first I didn’t think it was something important. However, one day, in the same building, we gathered there to eat. We brought food to our H.E room. When I got near the table, the unusual smell in that room became more intense. Again, I did not bother with it.
“After the gathering, I became very sick. Getting sick after smelling that unusual smell usually happened to me. I also smell the same smell when the death anniversary of my father is near.
“I do not know what it means. I can’t describe it except that it is unusual and not normally smelled by people.
“Here’s one other thing. Every time I would reminisce or imagine things, they would be accompanied by certain smells. For me, everyday would be a different smell and I clearly sense them when I remember those events.”
Highly developed
Karen, you are definitely one of those rare individuals who receive psychic information through the sense of smell. As mentioned earlier, yours is a very rare psychic gift or ability. Your sense of smell is so highly developed that you can even smell things that you merely imagine, and that you can associate each day with a different smell.
Others can see people as “beings of light” and in color. They can see the human aura that is not normally visible to everybody. These are people with a highly developed sense of sight, that’s why it is commonly called “The Third Eye.”
Try to experiment with this rare psychic ability of yours, so that you can use it in a practical way. One of the students I mentioned above can smell sickness in people, even if he has a cold. That’s why he is able to diagnose or tell what’s wrong with a person simply by being aware of that smell.
Can you imagine the tremendous possibilities this rare ability of yours can have? People with this psychic ability, when meeting a friend, will not say, “You don’t look well today.” They are more likely to say, “You don’t smell good today!”
NOTE:
My next Inner Mind Development seminar will be on Oct. 8-9, 2011 from 9am-5pm, while the next Soulmates, Karma & Reincarnation seminar will be on Oct. 22, 2011 1pm-7pm at Rm. 308 Prince Plaza 1, Legaspi St., Legaspi Village Makati. For details and reservations, pls. call tel. no. 810-7245/ 815-9890 or cell phone no. (0920) 981-8962; email jaimetlicauco@yahoo.com Visit our website: www.jimmylicauco.com
Reality shifting refers to a practice where individuals attempt to shift their consciousness or awareness to alternate realities or “realms” through various techniques, often involving meditation, visualization, scripting and intense focus. These alternate realities might be based on existing fictional worlds, personal fantasies or entirely new creations.
At present, there is no scientific consensus on whether individuals can actually shift their consciousness to alternate realities outside of dreams or mental constructs. Reality shifting is primarily seen as a subjective and personal experience of imaginative play rather than a literal alteration of reality.
However, some online communities swear by it. Reality shifting gained prominence on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Wattpad and Reddit following the Covid-19 pandemic and captivated widespread interest long after, with posts on the subject amassing over 1.8 billion views online. Many interested users are teenagers and young adults.
Individuals may prepare to “shift realities” using mindfulness meditations, subliminal audios and affirmations and by creating a detailed script of the desired reality they wish to shift to, including sensory details, emotions and specific events they want to experience.
Here are two examples of commonly reported reality shifting methods:
The Alice In Wonderland method. This involves mentally visualizing oneself falling down a rabbit hole into a different reality, often using meditation or relaxation techniques to aid the visualization process.
The elevator method. This involves imagining oneself in an elevator traveling to one’s desired reality located on the top floor. As the elevator ascends past each floor, practitioners focus on intensifying their energy levels. When the energy reaches a high enough level, the elevator doors open, allowing access to the desired reality.
Popular desired realities include the Harry Potter world, Shadowhunters, Star Wars, anime universes and so on.
A 2021 study examined the psychological characteristics of “reality shifters” and found that they likely share certain unique traits that allow them to engage in the practice.
Here are three psychological traits that may enable reality shifting experiences, according to the study.
1. Absorption
Absorption refers to an individual’s capacity to become deeply immersed in sensory experiences, fantasies or imaginative activities. Individuals with high capacities for absorption tend to have vivid imaginations, a heightened ability to concentrate and a propensity for intense emotional and sensory experiences.
Individuals who engage in reality shifting seem to leverage their capacity for absorption to enhance their ability to mentally simulate and immerse themselves in alternate realities.
Researchers suggest that such individuals may also be more susceptible to altered states of consciousness, including trance-like or hypnotic states. Reality shifters may use this susceptibility to induce a state of deep relaxation or suggestibility, which they believe can enhance their ability to reality shift.
“Those succeeding in initiating RS (reality shifting) are presumably high in absorption in that they can narrow their attention and ignore external distractions and can experience their DR (desired reality) as a vivid and life-like alternate reality,” the researchers explain.
2. Dissociation
Dissociation is a psychological phenomenon characterized by a disconnection between thoughts, identity, consciousness and memory. It can manifest in various forms, ranging from mild detachment or spacing out to more severe experiences of depersonalization and derealization, where individuals feel disconnected from themselves or their surroundings.
Individuals who engage in reality shifting may exhibit dissociative absorption, which involves becoming deeply absorbed in an alternate reality to the point of temporarily losing awareness of their actual surroundings or sense of self.
During periods of dissociative absorption, individuals may experience distortions in their perception of time and space, further blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
Dissociation in the context of reality shifting may not necessarily be diagnosed as a dissociative disorder or form of pathology. Instead, it reflects a temporary and voluntary alteration of consciousness that individuals may actively seek out as part of their exploration of alternate realities. However, it can be dangerous if it comes at the expense of meaningfully engaging with their actual reality.
3. Fantasy-Proneness
Fantasy-proneness is characterized by a heightened tendency to have intense and vivid fantasies, daydreams or imaginary experiences. Individuals who are fantasy-prone often find it easy to immerse themselves in imaginative worlds, sometimes to the extent that they have difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality.
Fantasy-prone individuals typically have a rich and detailed imagination, allowing them to conjure elaborate mental images and scenarios.
Fantasy-prone individuals may also develop strong emotional connections to fictional characters or imaginary companions. Similarly, reality shifters may form attachments to the characters and settings of their desired realities, investing emotionally in their interactions and experiences within these alternate worlds.
“Before I plan on shifting, I write myself a script in the notes app on my phone, in which I plan exactly what happens in the desired reality. This makes it easier to visualize exactly what I want to happen, so I might script that I want to go to Hogwarts and for Draco to be my boyfriend, or that he will flirt with me,” writes a TikTok user.
Fantasy-prone individuals may use their imaginative worlds as a means of escape from stress, boredom or dissatisfaction with reality. Reality shifting can be motivated by a desire for temporary respite from the challenges of everyday life and instead spending time in alternate realities where one experiences a greater sense of control.
However, according to some users, reality shifting can also feel addictive, making them feel a lack of personal agency even in their chosen reality. Over-reliance on alternate realities to cope with stress or discomfort can also impede the development of psychological resilience and adaptive coping skills.
Overall, it is essential to approach reality shifting with caution and critical thinking. While it may offer benefits such as creative expression, relaxation and access to fascinating inner worlds, it’s essential to maintain a balanced perspective and stay grounded in one’s present reality.
Do you escape to imaginary worlds to experience alternative intimacy? Take the Emotional Promiscuity Scale to gain clarity.
A person with synesthesia may associate certain letters and numbers with certain colors. Most synesthetes see characters just as others do (in whichever color actually displayed) but they may simultaneously perceive colors as associated with or evoked by each one.
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.[1][2][3][4] For instance, people with synesthesia may experience colors when listening to music, see shapes when smelling certain scents, or perceive tastes when looking at words. People who report a lifelong history of such experiences are known as synesthetes. Awareness of synesthetic perceptions varies from person to person with the perception of synesthesia differing based on an individual's unique life experiences and the specific type of synesthesia that they have.[5][6] In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme–color synesthesia or color–graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored.[7][8] In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (e.g., 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may appear as a three-dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise).[9][10] Synesthetic associations can occur in any combination and any number of senses or cognitive pathways.[11]
Little is known about how synesthesia develops. It has been suggested that synesthesia develops during childhood when children are intensively engaged with abstract concepts for the first time.[12] This hypothesis—referred to as semantic vacuum hypothesis—could explain why the most common forms of synesthesia are grapheme-color, spatial sequence, and number form. These are usually the first abstract concepts that educational systems require children to learn.
The earliest recorded case of synesthesia is attributed to the Oxford University academic and philosopher John Locke, who, in 1690, made a report about a blind man who said he experienced the color scarlet when he heard the sound of a trumpet.[13] However, there is disagreement as to whether Locke described an actual instance of synesthesia or was using a metaphor.[14] The first medical account came from German physician Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812.[14][15][16] The term is from Ancient Greekσύνsyn 'together' and αἴσθησιςaisthēsis 'sensation'.[13]
projective synesthesia: seeing colors, forms, or shapes when stimulated (the widely understood version of synesthesia)
associative synesthesia: feeling a very strong and involuntary connection between the stimulus and the sense that it triggers
For example, in chromesthesia (sound to color), a projector may hear a trumpet, and see an orange triangle in space, while an associator might hear a trumpet, and think very strongly that it sounds "orange".[citation needed]
Synesthesia can occur between nearly any two senses or perceptual modes, and at least one synesthete, Solomon Shereshevsky, experienced synesthesia that linked all five senses.[17] Types of synesthesia are indicated by using the notation x → y, where x is the "inducer" or trigger experience, and y is the "concurrent" or additional experience. For example, perceiving letters and numbers (collectively called graphemes) as colored would be indicated as grapheme-color synesthesia. Similarly, when synesthetes see colors and movement as a result of hearing musical tones, it would be indicated as tone → (color, movement) synesthesia.
While nearly every logically possible combination of experiences can occur, several types are more common than others.
In one of the most common forms of synesthesia, individual letters of the alphabet and numbers (collectively referred to as "graphemes") are "shaded" or "tinged" with a color. While different individuals usually do not report the same colors for all letters and numbers, studies with large numbers of synesthetes find some commonalities across letters (e.g., A is likely to be red).[18]
Some authors had argued that the term synaesthesia may not be correct when applied to the so-called grapheme-colour synesthesia and similar phenomena in which the inducer is conceptual (e.g. a letter or number) rather than sensory (e.g. sound or color). They have postulated that the term ideasthesia is a more accurate description.[19][20]
Another common form of synesthesia is the association of sounds with colors. For some, everyday sounds can trigger seeing colors. For others, colors are triggered when musical notes or keys are being played. People with synesthesia related to music may also have perfect pitch because their ability to see and hear colors aids them in identifying notes or keys.[21]
The colors triggered by certain sounds, and any other synesthetic visual experiences, are referred to as photisms.
According to Richard Cytowic,[3] chromesthesia is "something like fireworks": voice, music, and assorted environmental sounds such as clattering dishes or dog barks trigger color and firework shapes that arise, move around, and then fade when the sound ends. Sound often changes the perceived hue, brightness, scintillation, and directional movement. Some individuals see music on a "screen" in front of their faces. For Deni Simon, music produces waving lines "like oscilloscope configurations – lines moving in color, often metallic with height, width, and, most importantly, depth. My favorite music has lines that extend horizontally beyond the 'screen' area."
Individuals rarely agree on what color a given sound is. Composers Franz Liszt and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov famously disagreed on the colors of musical keys.
Those with spatial sequence synesthesia (SSS) tend to see ordinal sequences as points in space. People with SSS may have superior memories; in one study, they were able to recall past events and memories far better and in far greater detail than those without the condition. They can also see months or dates in the space around them, but most synesthetes "see" these sequences in their mind's eye. Some people see time like a clock above and around them.[22][23][24]
A number form from one of Francis Galton's subjects (1881).[9] Note how the first 4 digits roughly correspond to their positions on a clock face.
A number form is a mental map of numbers that automatically and involuntarily appear whenever someone who experiences number-forms synesthesia thinks of numbers. These numbers might appear in different locations and the mapping changes and varies between individuals. Number forms were first documented and named in 1881 by Francis Galton in "The Visions of Sane Persons".[25]
In auditory–tactile synesthesia, certain sounds can induce sensations in parts of the body. For example, someone with auditory–tactile synesthesia may experience that hearing a specific word or sound feels like touch in one specific part of the body or may experience that certain sounds can create a sensation in the skin without being touched (not to be confused with the milder general reaction known as frisson, which affects approximately 50% of the population). It is one of the least common forms of synesthesia.[26]
Ordinal-linguistic personification (OLP, or personification) is a form of synesthesia in which ordered sequences, such as ordinal numbers, week-day names, months, and alphabetical letters are associated with personalities or genders (Simner & Hubbard 2006). Although this form of synesthesia was documented as early as the 1890s,[27][28] researchers have, until recently, paid little attention to it (see History of synesthesia research). This form of synesthesia was named "OLP" in the contemporary literature by Julia Simner and colleagues[29] although it is now also widely recognised by the term "sequence-personality" synesthesia. Ordinal linguistic personification normally co-occurs with other forms of synesthesia such as grapheme–color synesthesia.
Misophonia is a neurological disorder in which negative experiences (anger, fright, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific sounds. Cytowic suggests that misophonia is related to, or perhaps a variety of, synesthesia.[1] Edelstein and her colleagues have compared misophonia to synesthesia in terms of connectivity between different brain regions as well as specific symptoms.[1] They hypothesize that "a pathological distortion of connections between the auditory cortex and limbic structures could cause a form of sound-emotion synesthesia."[30] Studies suggest that individuals with misophonia have a normal hearing sensitivity level, but their limbic system and autonomic nervous system are constantly in a "heightened state of arousal" in which abnormal reactions to sounds will be more prevalent.[31]
Newer studies suggest that, depending on its severity, misophonia could be associated with lower cognitive control when individuals are exposed to certain associations and triggers.[32]
It is unclear what causes misophonia. Some scientists believe the condition could be genetic, while others believe it to be present with additional conditions.[33] There are no current treatments for the condition, but management of symptoms involves numerous coping strategies.[33] These strategies include avoidance of situations that could trigger the reaction, mimicking the sounds, and cancelling out the sounds by using earplugs or music. Most misophoniacs use these to "overwrite" these sounds produced by others.[34]
This is a form of synesthesia where individuals feel the same/similar sensation as another person (such as touch). For instance, when such a synesthete observes someone being tapped on their shoulder, the synesthete involuntarily feels a tap on their own shoulder as well. People with this type of synesthesia have been shown to have higher empathy levels compared to the general population. This may be related to the so-called mirror neurons present in the motor areas of the brain, which have also been linked to empathy.[35]
This is another form of synesthesia where certain tastes are experienced when hearing words. For example, the word basketball might taste like waffles. The documentary 'Derek Tastes of Earwax' gets its name from this phenomenon, in references to pub owner James Wannerton who experiences this particular sensation whenever he hears the name spoken.[36][37] It is estimated that 0.2% of the synesthesia population has this form of synesthesia, making it one of the rarest forms.[38]
Kinesthetic synesthesia is one of the rarest documented forms of synesthesia in the world.[39] This form of synesthesia is a combination of various different types of synesthesia. Features appear similar to auditory–tactile synesthesia but sensations are not isolated to individual numbers or letters but complex systems of relationships. The result is the ability to memorize and model complex relationships between numerous variables by feeling physical sensations around the kinesthetic movement of related variables. Reports include feeling sensations in the hands or feet, coupled with visualizations of shapes or objects when analyzing mathematical equations, physical systems, or music. In another case, a person described seeing interactions between physical shapes causing sensations in the feet when solving a math problem. Generally, those with this type of synesthesia can memorize and visualize complicated systems, and with a high degree of accuracy, predict the results of changes to the system. Examples include predicting the results of computer simulations in subjects such as quantum mechanics or fluid dynamics when results are not naturally intuitive.[18][40]
Other forms of synesthesia have been reported, but little has been done to analyze them scientifically. There are at least 80 types of synesthesia.[39]
In August 2017 a research article in the journal Social Neuroscience reviewed studies with fMRI to determine if persons who experience autonomous sensory meridian response are experiencing a form of synesthesia. While a determination has not yet been made, there is anecdotal evidence that this may be the case, based on significant and consistent differences from the control group, in terms of functional connectivity within neural pathways. It is unclear whether this will lead to ASMR being included as a form of existing synesthesia, or if a new type will be considered.[41]
Some synesthetes often report that they were unaware their experiences were unusual until they realized other people did not have them, while others report feeling as if they had been keeping a secret their entire lives.[42] The automatic and ineffable nature of a synesthetic experience means that the pairing may not seem out of the ordinary. This involuntary and consistent nature helps define synesthesia as a real experience. Most synesthetes report that their experiences are pleasant or neutral, although, in rare cases, synesthetes report that their experiences can lead to a degree of sensory overload.[18]
Though often stereotyped in the popular media as a medical condition or neurological aberration,[citation needed] many synesthetes themselves do not perceive their synesthetic experiences as a handicap. On the contrary, some report it as a gift – an additional "hidden" sense – something they would not want to miss. Most synesthetes become aware of their distinctive mode of perception in their childhood. Some have learned how to apply their ability in daily life and work. Synesthetes have used their abilities in memorization of names and telephone numbers, mental arithmetic, and more complex creative activities like producing visual art, music, and theater.[42]
Despite the commonalities which permit the definition of the broad phenomenon of synesthesia, individual experiences vary in numerous ways. This variability was first noticed early in synesthesia research.[43] Some synesthetes report that vowels are more strongly colored, while for others consonants are more strongly colored.[18] Self-reports, interviews, and autobiographical notes by synesthetes demonstrate a great degree of variety in types of synesthesia, the intensity of synesthetic perceptions, awareness of the perceptual discrepancies between synesthetes and non-synesthetes, and the ways synesthesia is used in work, creative processes, and daily life.[42][44]
Synesthetes are very likely to participate in creative activities.[40] It has been suggested that individual development of perceptual and cognitive skills, in addition to one's cultural environment, produces the variety in awareness and practical use of synesthetic phenomena.[6][44] Synesthesia may also give a memory advantage. In one study, conducted by Julia Simner of the University of Edinburgh, it was found that spatial sequence synesthetes have a built-in and automatic mnemonic reference. Whereas a non-synesthete will need to create a mnemonic device to remember a sequence (like dates in a diary), a synesthete can simply reference their spatial visualizations.[45]
Regions thought to be cross-activated in grapheme–color synesthesia (green=grapheme recognition area, red=V4 color area)[46]
As of 2015, the neurological correlates of synesthesia had not been established.[47]
Dedicated regions of the brain are specialized for given functions. Increased cross-talk between regions specialized for different functions may account for the many types of synesthesia. For example, the additive experience of seeing color when looking at graphemes might be due to cross-activation of the grapheme-recognition area and the color area called V4 (see figure).[46] This is supported by the fact that grapheme–color synesthetes can identify the color of a grapheme in their peripheral vision even when they cannot consciously identify the shape of the grapheme.[46]
An alternative possibility is disinhibited feedback, or a reduction in the amount of inhibition along normally existing feedback pathways.[48] Normally, excitation and inhibition are balanced. However, if normal feedback were not inhibited as usual, then signals feeding back from late stages of multi-sensory processing might influence earlier stages such that tones could activate vision. Cytowic and Eagleman find support for the disinhibition idea in the so-called acquired forms[3] of synesthesia that occur in non-synesthetes under certain conditions: temporal lobe epilepsy,[49] head trauma, stroke, and brain tumors. They also note that it can likewise occur during stages of meditation, deep concentration, sensory deprivation, or with use of psychedelics such as LSD or mescaline, and even, in some cases, marijuana.[3] However, synesthetes report that common stimulants, like caffeine and cigarettes do not affect the strength of their synesthesia, nor does alcohol.[3]: 137–40
A very different theoretical approach to synesthesia is that based on ideasthesia. According to this account, synesthesia is a phenomenon mediated by the extraction of the meaning of the inducing stimulus. Thus, synesthesia may be fundamentally a semantic phenomenon. Therefore, to understand neural mechanisms of synesthesia the mechanisms of semantics and the extraction of meaning need to be understood better. This is a non-trivial issue because it is not only a question of a location in the brain at which meaning is "processed" but pertains also to the question of understanding – epitomized in e.g., the Chinese room problem. Thus, the question of the neural basis of synesthesia is deeply entrenched into the general mind–body problem and the problem of the explanatory gap.[50]
Due to the prevalence of synesthesia among the first-degree relatives of people affected,[51] there may be a genetic basis, as indicated by the monozygotic twins studies showing an epigenetic component.[medical citation needed] Synesthesia might also be an oligogenic condition, with locus heterogeneity, multiple forms of inheritance, and continuous variation in gene expression.[medical citation needed] While the exact genetic loci for this trait haven't been identified, research indicates that the genetic constructs underlying synesthesia are most likely more complex than the simple X-linked mode of inheritance that early researchers believed it to be.[8] Further, it remains uncertain as to whether synesthesia perseveres in the genetic pool because it provides a selective advantage, or because it has become a byproduct of some other useful selected trait.[52] Women have a higher chance of developing synesthesia, as demonstrated in population studies conducted in the city of Cambridge, England where females were 6 times more likely to have it.[51] As technological equipment continues to advance, the search for clearer answers regarding the genetics behind synesthesia will become more promising.
Although often termed a "neurological condition," synesthesia is not listed in either the DSM-IV or the ICD since it usually does not interfere with normal daily functioning.[53] Indeed, most synesthetes report that their experiences are neutral or even pleasant.[18] Like perfect pitch, synesthesia is simply a difference in perceptual experience.
Reaction times for answers that are congruent with a synesthete's automatic colors are shorter than those whose answers are incongruent.[3]
The simplest approach is test-retest reliability over long periods of time, using stimuli of color names, color chips, or a computer-screen color picker providing 16.7 million choices. Synesthetes consistently score around 90% on the reliability of associations, even with years between tests.[1] In contrast, non-synesthetes score just 30–40%, even with only a few weeks between tests and a warning that they would be retested.[1]
Many tests exist for synesthesia. Each common type has a specific test. When testing for grapheme–color synesthesia, a visual test is given. The person is shown a picture that includes black letters and numbers. A synesthete will associate the letters and numbers with a specific color. An auditory test is another way to test for synesthesia. A sound is turned on and one will either identify it with a taste or envision shapes. The audio test correlates with chromesthesia (sounds with colors). Since people question whether or not synesthesia is tied to memory, the "retest" is given. One is given a set of objects and is asked to assign colors, tastes, personalities, or more. After a period of time, the same objects are presented and the person is asked again to do the same task. The synesthete can assign the same characteristics because that person has permanent neural associations in the brain, rather than memories of a certain object.[medical citation needed]
The automaticity of synesthetic experience. A synesthete might perceive the left panel like the panel on the right.[46]
Grapheme–color synesthetes, as a group, share significant preferences for the color of each letter (e.g., A tends to be red; O tends to be white or black; S tends to be yellow, etc.)[18] Nonetheless, there is a great variety in types of synesthesia, and within each type, individuals report differing triggers for their sensations and differing intensities of experiences. This variety means that defining synesthesia in an individual is difficult, and the majority of synesthetes are completely unaware that their experiences have a name.[18]
Neurologist Richard Cytowic identifies the following diagnostic criteria for synesthesia in his first edition book. However, the criteria are different in the second book:[1][2][3]
Synesthesia is involuntary and automatic
Synesthetic perceptions are spatially extended, meaning they often have a sense of "location." For example, synesthetes speak of "looking at" or "going to" a particular place to attend to the experience
Synesthetic percepts are consistent and generic (i.e., simple rather than pictorial)
Cytowic's early cases mainly included individuals whose synesthesia was frankly projected outside the body (e.g., on a "screen" in front of one's face). Later research showed that such stark externalization occurs in a minority of synesthetes. Refining this concept, Cytowic and Eagleman differentiated between "localizers" and "non-localizers" to distinguish those synesthetes whose perceptions have a definite sense of spatial quality from those whose perceptions do not.[3]
Estimates of prevalence of synesthesia have ranged widely, from 1 in 4 to 1 in 25,000–100,000. However, most studies have relied on synesthetes reporting themselves, introducing self-referral bias.[54] In what is cited as the most accurate prevalence study so far,[54] self-referral bias was avoided by studying 500 people recruited from the communities of Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities; it showed a prevalence of 4.4%, with 9 different variations of synesthesia.[55] This study also concluded that one common form of synesthesia – grapheme–color synesthesia (colored letters and numbers) – is found in more than one percent of the population, and this latter prevalence of graphemes–color synesthesia has since been independently verified in a sample of nearly 3,000 people in the University of Edinburgh.[56]
The most common forms of synesthesia are those that trigger colors, and the most prevalent of all is day–color.[55] Also relatively common is grapheme–color synesthesia. We can think of "prevalence" both in terms of how common is synesthesia (or different forms of synesthesia) within the population, or how common are different forms of synesthesia within synesthetes. So within synesthetes, forms of synesthesia that trigger color also appear to be the most common forms of synesthesia with a prevalence rate of 86% within synesthetes.[55] In another study, music–color is also prevalent at 18–41%.[citation needed] Some of the rarest are reported to be auditory–tactile, mirror-touch, and lexical–gustatory.[57]
There is research to suggest that the likelihood of having synesthesia is greater in people with autism spectrum condition.[58]
The interest in colored hearing dates back to Greek antiquity when some theorists wondered whether the color (chroia, what we now call timbre) of music was a quantifiable quality of sound, together with pitch and duration. Additionally, one kind of musical scale (genos) introduced by Plato's friend Archytas of Tarentum in the fourth century BC was named chromatic. The late sixth century BC kitharist Lysander of Sicyon was said to have introduced a more 'colorful' style, even before the development of the chromatic scale itself. In Plato's time, the description of melody as 'colored' had become part of professional jargon, while the musical terms 'tone' and 'harmony' soon became integrated into the vocabulary of color in visual art.[59]Isaac Newton proposed that musical tones and color tones shared common frequencies, as did Goethe in his book Theory of Colours.[60] There is a long history of building color organs such as the clavier à lumières on which to perform colored music in concert halls.[61][62]
The first medical description of "colored hearing" is in an 1812 thesis by the German physician Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs.[63][14][15] The "father of psychophysics," Gustav Fechner, reported the first empirical survey of colored letter photisms among 73 synesthetes in 1876,[64][65] followed in the 1880s by Francis Galton.[9][66][67]Carl Jung refers to "color hearing" in his Symbols of Transformation in 1912.[68]
In the early 1920s, the Bauhaus teacher and musician Gertrud Grunow researched the relationships between sound, color, and movement and developed a 'twelve-tone circle of colour' which was analogous with the twelve-tone music of the Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951).[69] She was a participant in at least one of the Congresses for Colour-Sound Research (German:Kongreß für Farbe-Ton-Forschung) held in Hamburg in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[70]
Research into synesthesia proceeded briskly in several countries, but due to the difficulties in measuring subjective experiences and the rise of behaviorism, which made the study of any subjective experience taboo, synesthesia faded into scientific oblivion between 1930 and 1980.[citation needed]
As the 1980s cognitive revolution made inquiry into internal subjective states respectable again, scientists returned to synesthesia. Led in the United States by Larry Marks and Richard Cytowic, and later in England by Simon Baron-Cohen and Jeffrey Gray, researchers explored the reality, consistency, and frequency of synesthetic experiences. In the late 1990s, the focus settled on grapheme → color synesthesia, one of the most common[18] and easily studied types. Psychologists and neuroscientists study synesthesia not only for its inherent appeal but also for the insights it may give into cognitive and perceptual processes that occur in synesthetes and non-synesthetes alike. Synesthesia is now the topic of scientific books and papers, Ph.D. theses, documentary films, and even novels.[citation needed]
Since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, synesthetes began contacting one another and creating websites devoted to the condition. These rapidly grew into international organizations such as the American Synesthesia Association, the UK Synaesthesia Association, the Belgian Synesthesia Association, the Canadian Synesthesia Association, the German Synesthesia Association, and the Netherlands Synesthesia Web Community.[citation needed]
Solomon Shereshevsky, a newspaper reporter turned mnemonist, was discovered by Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria to have a rare fivefold form of synesthesia,[17] of which he is the only known case. Words and text were not only associated with highly vivid visuospatial imagery but also sound, taste, color, and sensation.[17] Shereshevsky could recount endless details of many things without form, from lists of names to decades-old conversations, but he had great difficulty grasping abstract concepts. The automatic, and nearly permanent, retention of every detail due to synesthesia greatly inhibited Shereshevsky's ability to understand what he read or heard.[17]
Neuroscientist and author V.S. Ramachandran studied the case of a grapheme–color synesthete who was also color blind. While he couldn't see certain colors with his eyes, he could still "see" those colors when looking at certain letters. Because he didn't have a name for those colors, he called them "Martian colors."[71]
Other notable synesthetes come particularly from artistic professions and backgrounds. Synesthetic art historically refers to multi-sensory experiments in the genres of visual music, music visualization, audiovisual art, abstract film, and intermedia.[42][72][73][74][75][76] Distinct from neuroscience, the concept of synesthesia in the arts is regarded as the simultaneous perception of multiple stimuli in one gestalt experience.[77] Neurological synesthesia has been a source of inspiration for artists, composers, poets, novelists, and digital artists.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote explicitly about synesthesia in several novels. Nabokov described his grapheme–color synesthesia at length in his autobiography, Speak, Memory:[78]
I present a fine case of colored hearing. Perhaps "hearing" is not quite accurate, since the color sensations seem to be produced by the very act of my orally forming a given letter while I imagine its outline. The long a of the English alphabet (and it is this alphabet I have in mind farther on unless otherwise stated) has for me the tint of weathered wood, but the French a evokes polished ebony. This black group also includes hard g (vulcanized rubber) and r (a sooty rag being ripped). Oatmeal n, noodle-limp l, and the ivory-backed hand mirror of o take care of the whites. I am puzzled by my French on which I see as the brimming tension-surface of alcohol in a small glass. Passing on to the blue group, there is steely x, thundercloud z, and huckleberry k. Since a subtle interaction exists between sound and shape, I see q as browner than k, while s is not the light blue of c, but a curious mixture of azure and mother-of-pearl.
Daniel Tammet wrote a book on his experiences with synesthesia called Born on a Blue Day.[79]Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, is a synesthete who says she experiences colors as scents.[80] Her novel Blueeyedboy features various aspects of synesthesia.
Wassily Kandinsky (a synesthete) and Piet Mondrian (not a synesthete) both experimented with image–music congruence in their paintings. Contemporary artists with synesthesia, such as Carol Steen[81] and Marcia Smilack[82] (a photographer who waits until she gets a synesthetic response from what she sees and then takes the picture), use their synesthesia to create their artwork. Linda Anderson, according to NPR considered "one of the foremost living memory painters", creates with oil crayons on fine-grain sandpaper representations of the auditory-visual synaesthesia she experiences during severe migraine attacks.[83][84] Brandy Gale, a Canadian visual artist, experiences an involuntary joining or crossing of any of her senses – hearing, vision, taste, touch, smell and movement. Gale paints from life rather than from photographs and by exploring the sensory panorama of each locale attempts to capture, select, and transmit these personal experiences.[85][86][87]David Hockney perceives music as color, shape, and configuration and uses these perceptions when painting opera stage sets (though not while creating his other artworks). Kandinsky combined four senses: color, hearing, touch, and smell.[1][3] American painter and visual artist Perry Hall attributes synaesthesia— both chromesthesia and the experience of visual sensations creating sounds— as an inspiration and guide for his creative work, including his Sound Drawing series.[88]
"Symphonic Poem "The Sea" and the matching painting "Sonata of the Sea. "Finale" (1908) by synesthete Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.
Multiple composers had experienced synesthesia.
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, a Lithuanian painter, composer and writer, perceived colors and music simultaneously. Many of his paintings bear the names of matching musical pieces: sonatas, fugues, and preludes.
Alexander Scriabin composed colored music that was deliberately contrived and based on the circle of fifths, whereas Olivier Messiaen invented a new method of composition (the modes of limited transposition) specifically to render his bi-directional sound–color synesthesia.[3][89] For example, the red rocks of Bryce Canyon are depicted in his symphony Des canyons aux étoiles... ("From the Canyons to the Stars"). New art movements such as literary symbolism, non-figurative art, and visual music have profited from experiments with synesthetic perception and contributed to the public awareness of synesthetic and multi-sensory ways of perceiving.[42] Other composers who reported synesthesia include Duke Ellington,[90]Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov,[91] and Jean Sibelius.[73]
Several contemporary composers with a synesthesia are Michael Torke,[73] and Ramin Djawadi, best known for his work on composing the theme songs and scores for such TV series as Game of Thrones, Westworld and for the Iron Man movie. He says he tends to "associate colors with music, or music with colors."[92]
British composer Daniel Liam Glyn created the classical-contemporary music project Changing Stations using Grapheme Colour Synaesthesia. Based on the 11 main lines of the London Underground, the eleven tracks featured on the album represent the eleven main tube line colours.[93] Each track focuses heavily on the different speeds, sounds, and mood of each line, and are composed in the key signature synaesthetically assigned by Glyn with reference to the colour of the tube line on the map.[94]
Some artists frequently mentioned as synesthetes did not, in fact, have the neurological condition. Scriabin's 1911 Prometheus, for example, is a deliberate contrivance whose color choices are based on the circle of fifths and appear to have been taken from Madame Blavatsky.[3][112] The musical score has a separate staff marked luce whose "notes" are played on a color organ. Technical reviews appear in period volumes of Scientific American.[3] On the other hand, his older colleague Rimsky-Korsakov (who was perceived as a fairly conservative composer) was, in fact, a synesthete.[113]
French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire wrote of synesthetic experiences, but there is no evidence they were synesthetes themselves. Baudelaire's 1857 Correspondances introduced the notion that the senses can and should intermingle. Baudelaire participated in a hashish experiment by psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau and became interested in how the senses might affect each other.[42] Rimbaud later wrote Voyelles (1871), which was perhaps more important than Correspondances in popularizing synesthesia. He later boasted "J'inventais la couleur des voyelles!" (I invented the colors of the vowels!).[114]
Some technologists, like inventor Nikola Tesla,[115] and scientists also reported being synesthetic. Physicist Richard Feynman describes his colored equations in his autobiography, What Do You Care What Other People Think?:[116] "When I see equations, I see the letters in colors. I don't know why. I see vague pictures of Bessel functions with light-tan j's, slightly violet-bluish n's, and dark brown x's flying around."[117]
Synesthesia is sometimes used as a plot device or way of developing a character's inner life. Author and synesthete Pat Duffy describes four ways in which synesthetic characters have been used in modern fiction.[118][119]
Synesthesia as Romantic ideal: in which the condition illustrates the Romantic ideal of transcending one's experience of the world. Books in this category include The Gift by Vladimir Nabokov.
Synesthesia as pathology: in which the trait is pathological. Books in this category include The Whole World Over by Julia Glass.
Synesthesia as Romantic pathology: in which synesthesia is pathological but also provides an avenue to the Romantic ideal of transcending quotidian experience. Books in this category include Holly Payne's The Sound of Blue and Anna Ferrara's The Woman Who Tried To Be Normal.
Literary depictions of synesthesia are criticized as often being more of a reflection of an author's interpretation of synesthesia than of the phenomenon itself.[citation needed]
Tests like this demonstrate that people do not attach sounds to visual shapes arbitrarily. When people are given a choice between the words "Bouba" and "Kiki", the left shape is almost always called "Kiki" while the right is called "Bouba"
Research on synesthesia raises questions about how the brain combines information from different sensory modalities, referred to as crossmodal perception or multisensory integration.[citation needed]
An example of this is the bouba/kiki effect. In an experiment first designed by Wolfgang Köhler, people are asked to choose which of two shapes is named bouba and which kiki. The angular shape, kiki, is chosen by 95–98% and bouba for the rounded one. Individuals on the island of Tenerife showed a similar preference between shapes called takete and maluma. Even 2.5-year-old children (too young to read) show this effect.[120] Research indicated that in the background of this effect may operate a form of ideasthesia.[121]
Researchers hope that the study of synesthesia will provide better understanding of consciousness and its neural correlates. In particular, synesthesia might be relevant to the philosophical problem of qualia,[4][122] given that synesthetes experience extra qualia (e.g., colored sound). An important insight for qualia research may come from the findings that synesthesia has the properties of ideasthesia,[19] which then suggest a crucial role of conceptualization processes in generating qualia.[12]
Peter Meijer developed a sensory substitution device for the visually impaired called The vOICe (the capital letters "O,""I," and "C" in "vOICe" are intended to evoke the expression "Oh I see"). The vOICe is a privately owned research project, running without venture capital, that was first implemented using low-cost hardware in 1991.[125] The vOICe is a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device (SSD) preserving visual detail at high resolution (up to 25,344 pixels).[126] The device consists of a laptop, head-mounted camera or computer camera, and headphones. The vOICe converts visual stimuli of the surroundings captured by the camera into corresponding aural representations (soundscapes) delivered to the user through headphones at a default rate of one soundscape per second. Each soundscape is a left-to-right scan, with height represented by pitch, and brightness by loudness.[127] The vOICe compensates for the loss of vision by converting information from the lost sensory modality into stimuli in a remaining modality.[128]
Artists Perry Hall and Jonathan Jones-Morris created Sonified in 2011, software which translates visual information from a video camera into music in real-time, as a means of creating a synaesthetic experience for the user.[129]
^ Jump up to:abcJewanski J, Day SA, Ward J (July 2009). "A colorful albino: the first documented case of synaesthesia, by Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. 18 (3): 293–303. doi:10.1080/09647040802431946. PMID20183209. S2CID8641750.
^ Jump up to:abHerman LM (28 December 2018). "Synesthesia". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
^Simner J, Hubbard EM (December 2006). "Variants of synesthesia interact in cognitive tasks: evidence for implicit associations and late connectivity in cross-talk theories". Neuroscience. 143 (3): 805–814. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.08.018. PMID16996695. S2CID18922608.
^ Jump up to:ab[full citation needed] Dittmar A, ed. (2007). Synästhesien. Roter Faden durchs Leben? [Synesthesia. A red thread through life?] (in German). Essen: Verlag Die Blaue Eule.
^Gray JA, Parslow DM, Brammer MJ, Chopping S, Vythelingum GN, ffytche DH (February 2006). "Evidence against functionalism from neuroimaging of the alien colour effect in synaesthesia". Cortex; A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior. 42 (2): 309–318. doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70357-5. PMID16683506. S2CID4475077.
^Baron-Cohen S, Johnson D, Asher J, Wheelwright S, Fisher SE, Gregerson PK, Allison C, "Is synaesthesia more common in autism?", Molecular Autism, 20 November 2013
^von Campen C (1996). "De verwarring der zintuigen. Artistieke en psychologische experimenten met synesthesie". Psychologie & Maatschappij. 20 (1): 10–26.
^von Maur K (1999). The Sound of Painting: Music in Modern Art (Pegasus Library). Munich: Prestel. ISBN978-3-7913-2082-3. [page needed]
^Gage JD (1993). Colour and culture: practice and meaning from antiquity to abstraction. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN978-0-500-27818-5.[page needed]
^Gage JD (1999). Color and meaning: art, science, and symbolism. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN978-0-520-22611-1.[page needed]
^van Campen C (2009). "Visual Music and Musical Paintings. The Quest for Synesthesia in the Arts.". In Bacci F, Melcher D (eds.). Making Sense of Art, making Art of Sense. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[page needed]
^Silberman, S. (February 6, 2012). “Inside the Mind of a Synaesthete”. PLOS ONE. www.blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2012/02/06/inside-the-mind-of-a-synaesthete/
^Samuel C (1994) [1986]. Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color. Conversations with Claude Samuel. Translated by Glasow ET. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press.
^Duke Ellington as quoted in George D (1981). Sweet man: The real Duke Ellington. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 226.
^Yastrebtsev V (1908). "On N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov's color sound- contemplation". Russkaya Muzykalnaya Gazeta (in Russian) (39–40): 842–845. cited by Bulat Galeyev (1999).
^[unreliable source?] It just always stuck out in my mind, and I could always see it. I don't know if that makes sense, but I could always visualize what I was hearing... Yeah, it was always like weird colors." From a Nightline interview with Pharrell
^[page needed] Dann KT (1998). Bright colors falsely seen: synaesthesia and the search for transcendental knowledge. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-06619-7.
^This is according to an article in the Russian press, Yastrebtsev V. "On N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov's color sound- contemplation." Russkaya muzykalnaya gazeta, 1908, N 39–40, pp. 842–845 (in Russian), cited by Bulat Galeyev (1999).
^Barth F, Giampieri-Deutsch P, Hans-Dieter K (2012). Sensory Perception: Mind & Matter. Vienna: Springer Vienna. p. 221. ISBN978-3-211-99750-5. I invented the colours of the vowels!
^Milan E, Iborra O, de Cordoba M, Juárez-Ramos V, Artacho MR, Rubio JL (2013). "The Kiki-Bouba effect: A case of personification and ideaesthesia". Journal of Consciousness Studies. 20 (1–2): 84–102.
^Gray JA, Chopping S, Nunn J, et al. (2002). "Implications of synaesthesia for functionalism: Theory and experiments". Journal of Consciousness. 9(12): 5–31.
^Scheff CM (1 January 1986). "Experimental model for the study of changes in the organization of human sensory information processing through the design and testing of non-invasive prosthetic devices for sensory impaired people". ACM SIGCAPH Computers and the Physically Handicapped (36): 3–10. doi:10.1145/15711.15713. ISSN0163-5727. S2CID11924232.
de Broucker T (April 2013). "[Synaesthesia, an augmented sensory world: phenomenology and literature review]". Revue Neurologique (Review) (in French). 169 (4): 328–334. doi:10.1016/j.neurol.2012.09.016. PMID23434143.
Many Hindus believe that there are 14 lokas, or worlds that make up a multiverse. They believe that there are inhabitants in each of these planetary systems.
In their most simple form, the lokas are divided into the seven upper worlds, known as vyarthis, and the seven lower worlds, known as patalas:
The seven vyarthis
Satya-loka – This is the place of Brahma, where each person’s is released from the inevitability of rebirth.
Tapa-loka – Ayohnija live here.
Jana-loka – The sons of the god Brahma live here.
Mahar-loka – Enlightened beings such as Markandeya live here.
Svar-loka – This is the area between the Sun and the Polar Star, the Heaven of the god Indra. It is a Heaven and Paradise, where all the 330 million Hindu gods live.
Bhuvar-loka (or Pitri-loka) – It is the space between Earth and the Sun. Semi-divine beings live here.
Bhur-loka – This is the Earth. Hindus teach that it is one of billions of inhabited worlds in the universe. This shows the Hindu belief in the multiverse.
The seven patalas
Atala-loka – Atala is ruled by , who is a son of . Maya possesses mystical powers.
Vitala-loka – Vitala is ruled by the god Hara-Bhava, who is a form of .
Sutala-loka – Sutala is the kingdom of the demon king Bali.
Talatala-loka – Talatala is the realm of Maya. Shiva is also here under the protection of Maya.
Mahatala-loka – Mahatala is where many nagas (serpents) live.
Rasatala-loka – Rasatala is the home of the demons Danavas and Daityas.
Patala-loka (or Naga-loka) – This is the lowest realm. It is the region of the nagas, ruled by Vasuki a King serpent.
Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allows the world to exist and take shape.[1]
Pradhana, which has no consciousness or will to act on its own, is initially agitated by a primal desire to create. The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the ultimate source of that desire and what the gunas are mixed with (eternal elements, time, jiva-atmas).[9][10]
The manifest material elements (matter) range from the most subtle to the most physical (gross). These material elements cover the individual, spiritual jiva-atmas (embodied souls), allowing them to interact with the material sense objects, such as their temporary material bodies, other conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.
Time is infinite with a cyclic universe, where the current universe was preceded and will be followed by an infinite number of universes.[16][17] The different states of matter are guided by eternal kala (time), which repeats general events ranging from a moment to the lifespan of the universe, which is cyclically created and destroyed.[18]
The earliest mentions of cosmic cycles in Sanskrit literature are found in the Yuga Purana (c. 1st century BCE), the Mahabharata (c. 3rd century BCE – 4th century CE), and the Manusmriti (c. 2nd – 3rd centuries CE). In the Mahabharata, there are inconsistent names applied to the cycle of creation and destruction, a name theorized as still being formulated, where yuga (generally, an age of time)[19][20] and kalpa (a day of Brahma) are used, or a day of Brahma, the creator god, or simply referred to as the process of creation and destruction, with kalpa and day of Brahma becoming more prominent in later writings.[21]
Prakriti (primal matter) remains mixed for a maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) of 311.04 trillion years, and is followed by a maha-pralaya (great dissolution) of equal length. The universe (matter) remains manifested for a kalpa (day of Brahma) of 4.32 billion years, where the universe is created at the start and destroyed at the end, only to be recreated at the start of the next kalpa. A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (partial dissolution, a.k.a. night of Brahma) of equal length, when Brahma and the universe are in an unmanifested state. Each kalpa has 15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures of great flooding) and 14 manvantaras (age of Manu, progenitor of mankind), with each manvantara lasting for 306.72 million years. Each kalpa has 1,000 and each manvantara has 71 chatur-yugas (epoch, a.k.a. maha-yuga), with each chatur-yuga lasting for 4.32 million years and divided into four yugas (dharmic ages): Satya Yuga (1,728,000 years), Treta Yuga (1,296,000 years), Dvapara Yuga (864,000 years), and Kali Yuga (432,000 years), of which we are currently in Kali Yuga.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
The individual, spiritual jiva-atma (embodied soul) is the life force or consciousness within a living entity. Jivas are eternal; they are not created or destroyed, and are distinctly different from the created unconscious matter. The gunas in their manifest state of matter, cover the jivas in various ways based on each jiva'skarma and impressions. This material covering of matter allows the jivas to interact with the material sense objects that make up the material universe, such as their temporary material bodies, other conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.[30][31][32]
The material creation is called maya ("measure or something that is measurable") due to its impermanent (non-eternal), temporary nature of sometimes being manifest and sometimes not. It has been compared to a dream or virtual reality, where the viewer (jiva) has real experiences with objects that will eventually become unreal.[33][34]
Through the interactions with the material sense objects, a jiva starts to identify the temporary material body as the true self, and in this way becomes influenced and bound by maya perpetually in a conscious state of nescience (ignorance, unawareness, forgetfulness). This conscious state of nescience leads to samsara (cycle of reincarnation), only to end for a jiva when moksha (liberation) is achieved through self-realization (atman-jnana) or remembrance of one's true spiritual self/nature.[35][36][37][38][39] Taking action to develop this state of awareness of ones true identity, and to understand the illusionary nature of maya is known as striving for moksha. Hindu's believe that dharma is a means to moksha, thus perfecting dharma is one such action.[40] The spiritual practice known as sadhna is another action.[41] The jiva is considered the place where all positive qualities within us are housed, yet remain hidden due to the "layers of maya".[41]
The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the initial event that led to the jivas entering the material creation and the ultimate state of moksha.
Hinduism is a group of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid common set of beliefs.[42] It includes a range of viewpoints about the origin of life. There is no single story of creation due to the dynamic diversity of Hinduism, and these are derived from various sources like Vedas, some from the Brahmanas, some from Puranas; some are philosophical, based on concepts, and others are narratives.[43]Hindu texts do not provide a single canonical account of the creation; they mention a range of theories of the creation of the world, some of which are apparently contradictory.[44]
According to Henry White Wallis, the Rigveda and other Vedic texts are full of alternative cosmological theories and curiosity questions. To its numerous open-ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses imbued with symbols and allegory, where in some cases, forces and agencies are clothed with a distinct personality, while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such as forms of mythical sacrifices.[45]
Rigveda 10.121 mentions the Hiranyagarbha ("hiranya = golden or radiant" and "garbha = filled / womb") that existed before the creation, as the source of the creation of the Universe, similar to the world egg motif found in the creation myths of many other civilizations.
This metaphor has been interpreted differently by the various later texts. The Samkhya texts state that Purusha and the Prakriti made the embryo, from which the world emerged. In another tradition, the creator god Brahma emerged from the egg and created the world, while in yet another tradition the Brahma himself is the Hiranyagarbha.[46] The nature of the Purusha, the creation of the gods and other details of the embryo creation myth have been described variously by the later Hindu texts.
The Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90) describes a myth of proto-Indo-European origin, in which the creation arises out of the dismemberment of the Purusha, a primeval cosmic being who is sacrificed by the gods.[47][48] Purusha is described as all that has ever existed and will ever exist.[49] This being's body was the origin of four different kinds of people: the Brahmin, the Rajanya, the Vaishya, and the Shudra.[50] Viraj, variously interpreted as the mundane egg[48] (see Hiranyagarbha) or the twofold male-female energy, was born from Purusha, and the Purusha was born again from Viraj. The gods then performed a yajna with the Purusha, leading to the creation of the other things in the manifested world from his various body parts and his mind. These things included the animals, the Vedas, the Varnas, the celestial bodies, the air, the sky, the heavens, the earth, the directions, and the Gods Indra and Agni.
The later texts such as the Puranas identify the Purusha with God. In many Puranic notes, Brahma is the creator god.[51]: 103, 318 However, some Puranas also identify Vishnu, Shiva or Devi as the creator.[51]: 103
The Nasadiya Sukta (RV 10.129) takes a near-agnostic stand on the creation of the primordial beings (such as the gods who performed the sacrifice of the Purusha), stating that the gods came into being after the world's creation, and nobody knows when the world first came into being.[52] It asks who created the universe, does anyone really know, and whether it can ever be known.[53] The Nasadiya Sukta states:[54][55]
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden; Without distinctive marks, this all was water; That which, becoming, by the void was covered; That One by force of heat came into being;
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it? Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute; Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not; Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows, Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
The early hymns of Rigveda also mention Tvastar as the first born creator of the human world.[59]
The Devi sukta (RV 10.125) states a goddess is all, the creator, the created universe, the feeder and the lover of the universe;[60]
Recounting the creation of gods, the Rig Veda does seem to affirm creatio ex nihilo.[61] Rig Veda (RV) 10.72 states:[55]
1. Now amid acclaim we will proclaim the births of the gods, so that one in a later generation will see (them) as the hymns are recited. 2 The Lord of the Sacred Formulation [=Bhṛaspati] smelted these (births) like a smith In the ancient generation of the gods, what exists was born from what does not exist. 3 In the first generation of the gods, what exists was born from what does not exist. The regions of space were born following that (which exists)—that(which exists) was born from the one whose feet were opened up.
— Bṛhaspati Āṅgirasa, Bṛhaspati Laukya, or Aditi Dākṣāyaṇī, The Gods, Rig Veda 10.72.1-3[b]
RV 1.24 asks, "these stars, which are set on high, and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" RV 10.88 wonders, "how many fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many waters? I am not posing an awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?"[62][63]
The Shatapatha Brahmana mentions a story of creation, in which the Prajapati performs tapas to reproduce himself. He releases the waters and enters them in the form of an egg that evolves into the cosmos.[64] The Prajapati emerged from the golden egg, and created the earth, the middle regions and the sky. With further tapas, he created the devas. He also created the asuras, and the darkness came into the being.[51]: 102–103 It also contains a story similar to the other great flood stories. After the great flood, Manu the only surviving human, offers a sacrifice from which Ida is born. From her, the existing human race comes into the being.[51]: 102–103
The Shatapatha Brahmana states that the current human generation descends from Manu, the only man who survived a great deluge after being warned by the God. This legend is comparable to the other flood legends, such as the story of the Noah's Ark mentioned in the Bible and the Quran.[65]
The Aitareya Upanishad (3.4.1) mentions that only the "Atma(soul)" (the Self) existed in the beginning. The Self created the heaven (Ambhas), the sky (Marikis), the earth (Mara) and the underworld (Ap). He then formed the Purusha from the water. He also created the speech, the fire, the prana (breath of life), the air and the various senses, the directions, the trees, the mind, the moon and other things.[66]
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4) mentions that in the beginning, only the Atman existed as the Purusha. Feeling lonely, the Purusha divided itself into two parts: male ("pati") and female ("patni"). The men were born when the male embraced the female. The female thought "how can he embrace me, after having produced me from himself? I shall hide myself." She then became a cow to hide herself, but the male became a bull and embraced her. Thus the cows were born. Similarly, everything that exists in pairs, was created. Next, the Purusha created the fire, the soma and the immortal gods (the devas) from his better part. He also created the various powers of the gods, the different classes, the dharma (law or duty) and so on.[67] The Taittiriya Upanishad states that the being (sat) was created from the non-being. The Being later became the Atman (2.7.1), and then created the worlds (1.1.1).[51]: 103 The Chhandogya states that the Brahma creates, sustains and destroys the world.[68] A similar perspective is also portrayed in the Mundak Upanishad verse 2.1.10, which states "puruṣa evedaṃ viśvaṃ karma tapo brahma parāmṛtam", meaning "out of this Purush, everything is born, and by knowing him, everything becomes known"[69]
An attempt to depict the creative activities of Prajapati; a steel engraving from the 1850s
The Puranas genre of Indian literature, found in Hinduism and Jainism, contain a section on cosmology and cosmogony as a requirement. There are dozens of different Mahapuranas and Upapuranas, each with its own theory integrated into a proposed human history consisting of solar and lunar dynasties. Some are similar to Indo-European creation myths, while others are novel. One cosmology, shared by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts involves Mount Meru, with stars and sun moving around it using Dhruva (North Star) as the focal reference.[70][71] According to Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, the diversity of cosmology theories in Hinduism may reflect its tendency to not reject new ideas and empirical observations as they became available, but to adapt and integrate them creatively.[72]
In the later Puranic texts, the creator god Brahma is described as performing the act of "creation", or more specifically of "propagating life within the universe". Some texts consider him equivalent to the Hiranyagarbha or the Purusha, while others state that he arose out of these. Brahma is a part of the trimurti of gods that also includes Vishnu and Shiva, who are responsible for "preservation" and "destruction" (of the universe) respectively.
In Garuda Purana, there was nothing in the universe except Brahman. The universe became an expanse of water, and in that Vishnu was born in the golden egg. He created Brahma with four faces. Brahma then created the devas, asuras, pitris and manushas. He also created the rakshasas, yakshas, and gandharvas. Other creatures came from the various parts of his body (e.g. snakes from his hair, sheep from his chest, goats from his mouth, cows from his stomach, others from his feet). His body hair became herbs. The four varnas came from his body parts and the four Vedas from his mouths. He created several sons from his mind: Daksha, Daksha's wife, Manu Svaymbhuva, his wife Shatarupta and the rishi Kashypa. Kashypata married thirteen of Daksha's daughters and all the devas and the creatures were born through them.[51]: 103 Other Puranas and the Manu Smriti mention several variations of this theory.
In Vishnu Purana, the Purusha is same as the creator deity Brahma, and is a part of Vishnu.[51]: 319 The Shaivite texts mention the Hiranyagarbha as a creation of Shiva.[46] According to the Devi-Bhagavata Purana Purusha and Prakriti emerged together and formed the Brahman, the supreme universal spirit that is the origin and support of the universe.[51]: 319
According to Richard L. Thompson, the Bhagavata Purana presents a geocentric model of our Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), where our Bhu-mandala disk, equal in diameter to our Brahmanda, has a diameter of 500 million yojanas (trad. 8 miles each), which equals around 4 billion miles or more, a size far too small for the universe of stars and galaxies, but in the right range for the Solar System. In addition, the Bhagavata Purana and other Puranas speak of a multiplicity of universes, or Brahmandas, each covered by seven-fold layers with an aggregate thickness of over ten million times its diameter (5x1015yojanas ≈ 6,804+ light-years in diameter). The Jyotisha Shastras, Surya Siddhanta, and Siddhānta Shiromani give the Brahmanda an enlarged radius of about 5,000 light years. Finally, the Mahabharata refers to stars as large, self-luminous objects that seem small because of their great distance, and that the Sun and Moon cannot be seen if one travels to those distant stars. Thompson notes that Bhu-mandala can be interpreted as a map of the geocentric orbits of the Sun and the five planets, Mercury through Saturn, and this map becomes highly accurate if we adjust the length of the yojana to about 8.5 miles.[73]
Brahma, the first born and secondary creator, during the start of his kalpa, divides the Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), first into three, later into fourteen lokas (planes or realms)—sometimes grouped into heavenly, earthly and hellish planes—and creates the first living entities to multiply and fill the universe. Some Puranas describe innumerable universes existing simultaneously with different sizes and Brahmas, each manifesting and unmanifesting at the same time. [citation needed]
The Samkhya texts state that there are two distinct fundamental eternal entities: the Purusha and the Prakriti. The Prakriti has three qualities: sattva (purity or preservation), rajas (creation) and tamas (darkness or destruction). When the equilibrium between these qualities is broken, the act of creation starts. Rajas quality leads to creation.[74]
Advaita Vedanta states that the creation arises from Brahman, but it is illusory and has no reality.[51]: 103 The Mundak Upanishad verse 2.2.11 also states "brahmaivedamamṛtaṃ purastādbrahma paścādbrahma dakṣiṇataścottareṇaadhaścordhvaṃ ca prasṛtaṃ brahmaivedaṃ viśvamidaṃ variṣṭham", meaning "All this before is immortal Brahman; certainly all behind is Brahman; all to the south and to the north; all bellow and all alone stretched out, all this is certainly Brahman", and suggests that Brahma is present throughout that creation.[75][76]
Many Hindu texts mention the cycle of creation and destruction.[51]: 104 According to the Upanishads, the universe and the Earth, along with humans and other creatures, undergo repeated cycles of creation and destruction (pralaya). The Hindu view of the cosmos is as eternal and cyclic. The later puranic view also asserts that the universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles. In Hindu cosmology, the age of the Earth is about 4.32 billion years (the duration of a kalpa or one day of Brahma)[77] and is then destroyed by fire or water elements. At this point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the day. This process, called pralaya (cataclysm), repeats for 100 Brahma years (311.04 trillion human years) that represents Brahma's lifespan.[78]
Deborah Soifer describes the development of the concept of lokas as follows:
The concept of a loka or lokas develops in the Vedic literature. Influenced by the special connotations that a word for space might have for a nomadic people, loka in the Veda did not simply mean place or world, but had a positive valuation: it was a place or position of religious or psychological interest with a special value of function of its own. Hence, inherent in the "loka" concept in the earliest literature was a double aspect; that is, coexistent with spatiality was a religious or soteriological meaning, which could exist independent of a spatial notion, an "immaterial" significance. The most common cosmological conception of lokas in the Veda was that of the trailokya or triple world: three worlds consisting of earth, atmosphere or sky, and heaven, making up the universe.
Patrick Olivelle explains that during the early vedic period the universe was viewed as consisting of three spheres (loka): the earth (bhūḥ), an intermediate region (bhuvaḥ), and the sky or firmament (svaḥ), which this tripartite cosmology was shared with other Indo-european peoples. In recent studies of vedic cosmology, Witzel (1984) has shown that the expression svarga loka ("bright world" or "heavenly world") refers specifically to the Milky Way. By the late vedic period, four higher spheres were added called Mahas, Janas, Tapas, and Satyaloka ("world of truth") or Brahmaloka ("world of Brahma"). Text from a much later period post-Upanishads posit seven parallel lower spheres or hells.[80]
Upper seven Lokas in Hindu CosmologyLower seven Lokas in Puranas
The Hindu texts describe innumerable universes existing all at the same time moving around like atoms, each with its own Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Every universe is covered by seven layers—earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false ego—each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited.
Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis, following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You as their final conclusion.
The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination.
And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes side by side, each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its Shiva? Who can count the Indras in them all--those Indras side by side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those others who passed away before them; or even the Indras who succeed each other in any given line, ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing away.
Every thing that is any where, is produced from and subsists in space. It is always all in all things, which are contained as particles in it. Such is the pure vacuous space of the Divine understanding, that like an ocean of light, contains these innumerable worlds, which like the countless waves of the sea, are revolving for ever in it.
There are many other large worlds, rolling through the immense space of vacuum, as the giddy goblins of Yakshas revel about in the dark and dismal deserts and forests, unseen by others.
^ Jump up to:abIn Bhagavad Gita 7.4, Krishna says "Air, water, earth, fire, sky, mind, intelligence and ahankaar (ego) together constitute the nature created by me."
^Larson, Gerald. HINDU COSMOGONY/ COSMOLOGY. Routledge, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN. p. 113.
^ Jump up to:abJames G. Lochtefeld, Guna, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 1, Rosen Publishing, ISBN978-0-8239-3179-8, pages 224, 265, 520
^Alban Widgery (1930), The principles of Hindu Ethics, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 40, No. 2, pages 234–237
^"Mahattattva, Mahat-tattva: 5 definitions". Wisdom Library. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2021. Mahattattva (महत्तत्त्व) or simply Mahat refers to a primordial principle of the nature of both pradhāna and puruṣa, according to the 10th century Saurapurāṇa: one of the various Upapurāṇas depicting Śaivism.—[...] From the disturbed prakṛti and the puruṣa sprang up the seed of mahat, which is of the nature of both pradhāna and puruṣa. The mahattattva is then covered by the pradhāna and being so covered it differentiates itself as the sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa-mahat. The pradhāna covers the mahat just as a seed is covered by the skin. Being so covered there spring from the three fold mahat the threefold ahaṃkāra called vaikārika, taijasa and bhūtādi or tāmasa.
^Elankumaran, S (2004). "Personality, organizational climate and job involvement: An empirical study". Journal of Human Values. 10 (2): 117–130. doi:10.1177/097168580401000205. S2CID145066724.
^Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 79.
^Sundarraj, M. (1997) [1st ed. 1994]. "Ch. 4 Asvins—Time-Keepers". In Mahalingam, N. (ed.). RG Vedic Studies. Coimbatore: Rukmani Offset Press. p. 219. It is quite clear that the smallest unit was the "nimisah" ['winking of eyes'], and that time in the general sense of past, present and future was indicated by the word "yuga".
^Doniger, Wendy; Hawley, John Stratton, eds. (1999). "Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. p. 691 (Manu). ISBN0-87779-044-2. a day in the life of Brahma is divided into 14 periods called manvantaras ("Manu intervals"), each of which lasts for 306,720,000 years. In every second cycle [(new kalpa after pralaya)] the world is recreated, and a new Manu appears to become the father of the next human race. The present age is considered to be the seventh Manu cycle.
^Krishnamurthy, V. (2019). "Ch. 20: The Cosmic Flow of Time as per Scriptures". Meet the Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism. Notion Press. ISBN978-1-68466-938-7. Each manvantara is preceded and followed by a period of 1,728,000 (= 4K) years when the entire earthly universe (bhu-loka) will submerge under water. The period of this deluge is known as manvantara-sandhya (sandhya meaning, twilight). ... According to the traditional time-keeping ... Thus in Brahma's calendar the present time may be coded as his 51st year - first month - first day - 7th manvantara - 28th maha-yuga - 4th yuga or kaliyuga.
^Griffith, Ralph T.H. (Transl.): Rigveda Hymn CXXIX. Creation in Hymns of the Rgveda, Vol. II, 1889-92. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1999.
^Charles Lanman, The Creation Hymn, Book X, Hymn 129, Rigveda, The Sacred Books of the East Volume IX: India and Brahmanism, Editor: Max Muller, Oxford, page 48
^ Jump up to:abJamison, Stephanie; Brereton, Joel (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 1499–1500, 1607–1609. ISBN978-0-19-937018-4.
^Brown, W. Norman (1942). "The Creation Myth of the Rig Veda". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 62 (2): 85–98. doi:10.2307/594460. JSTOR594460.
^Charles Lanman, Hymns by Women, Book X, Hymn 125, Rigveda, The Sacred Books of the East Volume IX: India and Brahmanism, Editor: Max Muller, Oxford, pages 46–47
^Rig Veda 10.72 translation by R.T.H. Griffith (1896)
Haug, Martin (1863). The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, Containing the Earliest Speculations of the Brahmans on the Meaning of the Sacrificial Prayers. ISBN0-404-57848-9.
Joseph, George G. (2000). The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics, 2nd edition. Penguin Books, London. ISBN0-691-00659-8.
Kak, Subhash C. (2000). "Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy". In Selin, Helaine (2000). Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy (303–340). Boston: Kluwer. ISBN0-7923-6363-9.
Teresi, Dick (2002). Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science — from the Babylonians to the Maya. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.ISBN0-684-83718-8.
The term psychiatry was first coined by the German physicianJohann Christian Reil in 1808 and literally means the 'medical treatment of the soul' (ψυχή psych- 'soul' from Ancient Greekpsykhē 'soul'; -iatry 'medical treatment' from Gk. ιατρικός iātrikos 'medical' from ιάσθαι iāsthai 'to heal'). A medical doctor specializing in psychiatry is a psychiatrist (for a historical overview, see: Timeline of psychiatry).
"Psychiatry, more than any other branch of medicine, forces its practitioners to wrestle with the nature of evidence, the validity of introspection, problems in communication, and other long-standing philosophical issues" (Guze, 1992, p.4).
Psychiatry refers to a field of medicine focused specifically on the mind, aiming to study, prevent, and treatmental disorders in humans.[10][11][12] It has been described as an intermediary between the world from a social context and the world from the perspective of those who are mentally ill.[13]
People who specialize in psychiatry often differ from most other mental health professionals and physicians in that they must be familiar with both the social and biological sciences.[11] The discipline studies the operations of different organs and body systems as classified by the patient's subjective experiences and the objective physiology of the patient. [14] Psychiatry treats mental disorders, which are conventionally divided into three general categories: mental illnesses, severe learning disabilities, and personality disorders.[15] Although the focus of psychiatry has changed little over time, the diagnostic and treatment processes have evolved dramatically and continue to do so. Since the late 20th century, the field of psychiatry has continued to become more biological and less conceptually isolated from other medical fields.[16]
Though the medical specialty of psychiatry uses research in the field of neuroscience, psychology, medicine, biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology,[17] it has generally been considered a middle ground between neurology and psychology.[18] Because psychiatry and neurology are deeply intertwined medical specialties, all certification for both specialties and for their subspecialties is offered by a single board, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, one of the member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties.[19] Unlike other physicians and neurologists, psychiatrists specialize in the doctor–patient relationship and are trained to varying extents in the use of psychotherapy and other therapeutic communication techniques.[18] Psychiatrists also differ from psychologists in that they are physicians and have post-graduate training called residency (usually four to five years) in psychiatry; the quality and thoroughness of their graduate medical training is identical to that of all other physicians.[20] Psychiatrists can therefore counsel patients, prescribe medication, order laboratory tests, order neuroimaging, and conduct physical examinations.[3]
The World Psychiatric Association issues an ethical code to govern the conduct of psychiatrists (like other purveyors of professional ethics). The psychiatric code of ethics, first set forth through the Declaration of Hawaii in 1977 has been expanded through a 1983 Vienna update and in the broader Madrid Declaration in 1996. The code was further revised during the organization's general assemblies in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2011.[21]
The World Psychiatric Association code covers such matters as confidentiality, the death penalty, ethnic or cultural discrimination,[21]euthanasia, genetics, the human dignity of incapacitated patients, media relations, organ transplantation, patient assessment, research ethics, sex selection,[22]torture,[23][24] and up-to-date knowledge.
In establishing such ethical codes, the profession has responded to a number of controversies about the practice of psychiatry, for example, surrounding the use of lobotomy and electroconvulsive therapy.
Psychiatric illnesses can be conceptualised in a number of different ways. The biomedical approach examines signs and symptoms and compares them with diagnostic criteria. Mental illness can be assessed, conversely, through a narrative which tries to incorporate symptoms into a meaningful life history and to frame them as responses to external conditions. Both approaches are important in the field of psychiatry[26] but have not sufficiently reconciled to settle controversy over either the selection of a psychiatric paradigm or the specification of psychopathology. The notion of a "biopsychosocial model" is often used to underline the multifactorial nature of clinical impairment.[27][28][29] In this notion the word model is not used in a strictly scientific way though.[27] Alternatively, a Niall McLaren acknowledges the physiological basis for the mind's existence but identifies cognition as an irreducible and independent realm in which disorder may occur.[27][28][29] The biocognitive approach includes a mentalistetiology and provides a natural dualist (i.e., non-spiritual) revision of the biopsychosocial view, reflecting the efforts of Australian psychiatrist Niall McLaren to bring the discipline into scientific maturity in accordance with the paradigmatic standards of philosopherThomas Kuhn.[27][28][29]
Once a medical professional diagnoses a patient there are numerous ways that they could choose to treat the patient. Often psychiatrists will develop a treatment strategy that incorporates different facets of different approaches into one. Drug prescriptions are very commonly written to be regimented to patients along with any therapy they receive. There are three major pillars of psychotherapy that treatment strategies are most regularly drawn from. Humanistic psychology attempts to put the "whole" of the patient in perspective; it also focuses on self exploration.[30]Behaviorism is a therapeutic school of thought that elects to focus solely on real and observable events, rather than mining the unconscious or subconscious. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, concentrates its dealings on early childhood, irrational drives, the unconscious, and conflict between conscious and unconscious streams.[31]
All physicians can diagnose mental disorders and prescribe treatments utilizing principles of psychiatry. Psychiatrists are trained physicians who specialize in psychiatry and are certified to treat mental illness. They may treat outpatients, inpatients, or both; they may practice as solo practitioners or as members of groups; they may be self-employed, be members of partnerships, or be employees of governmental, academic, nonprofit, or for-profit entities; employees of hospitals; they may treat military personnel as civilians or as members of the military; and in any of these settings they may function as clinicians, researchers, teachers, or some combination of these. Although psychiatrists may also go through significant training to conduct psychotherapy, psychoanalysis or cognitive behavioral therapy, it is their training as physicians that differentiates them from other mental health professionals.
Psychiatry was not a popular career choice among medical students, even though medical school placements are rated favorably.[32] This has resulted in a significant shortage of psychiatrists in the United States and elsewhere.[33] Strategies to address this shortfall have included the use of short 'taster' placements early in the medical school curriculum[32] and attempts to extend psychiatry services further using telemedicine technologies and other methods.[34] Recently, however, there has been an increase in the number of medical students entering into a psychiatry residency. There are several reasons for this surge, including the intriguing nature of the field, growing interest in genetic biomarkers involved in psychiatric diagnoses, and newer pharmaceuticals on the drug market to treat psychiatric illnesses.[35]
The field of psychiatry has many subspecialties that require additional training and certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). Such subspecialties include:[36]
Addiction psychiatry focuses on evaluation and treatment of individuals with alcohol, drug, or other substance-related disorders, and of individuals with dual diagnosis of substance-related and other psychiatric disorders. Biological psychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorders in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. Child and adolescent psychiatry is the branch of psychiatry that specializes in work with children, teenagers, and their families. Community psychiatry is an approach that reflects an inclusive public health perspective and is practiced in community mental health services.[42]Cross-cultural psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry concerned with the cultural and ethnic context of mental disorder and psychiatric services. Emergency psychiatry is the clinical application of psychiatry in emergency settings. Forensic psychiatry utilizes medical science generally, and psychiatric knowledge and assessment methods in particular, to help answer legal questions. Geriatric psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in the elderly. Global mental health is an area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide,[43] although some scholars consider it to be a neo-colonial, culturally insensitive project.[44][45][46][47]Liaison psychiatry is the branch of psychiatry that specializes in the interface between other medical specialties and psychiatry. Military psychiatry covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context. Neuropsychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system. Social psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the interpersonal and cultural context of mental disorder and mental well-being.
In larger healthcare organizations, psychiatrists often serve in senior management roles, where they are responsible for the efficient and effective delivery of mental health services for the organization's constituents. For example, the Chief of Mental Health Services at most VA medical centers is usually a psychiatrist, although psychologists occasionally are selected for the position as well.[citation needed]
Psychiatric research is, by its very nature, interdisciplinary; combining social, biological and psychological perspectives in attempt to understand the nature and treatment of mental disorders.[48] Clinical and research psychiatrists study basic and clinical psychiatric topics at research institutions and publish articles in journals.[17][49][50][51] Under the supervision of institutional review boards, psychiatric clinical researchers look at topics such as neuroimaging, genetics, and psychopharmacology in order to enhance diagnostic validity and reliability, to discover new treatment methods, and to classify new mental disorders.[52][page needed]
Psychiatric diagnoses take place in a wide variety of settings and are performed by many different health professionals. Therefore, the diagnostic procedure may vary greatly based upon these factors. Typically, though, a psychiatric diagnosis utilizes a differential diagnosis procedure where a mental status examination and physical examination is conducted, with pathological, psychopathological or psychosocial histories obtained, and sometimes neuroimages or other neurophysiological measurements are taken, or personality tests or cognitive tests administered.[53][54][55][56][57] In some cases, a brain scan might be used to rule out other medical illnesses, but at this time relying on brain scans alone cannot accurately diagnose a mental illness or tell the risk of getting a mental illness in the future.[58] Some clinicians are beginning to utilize genetics[59][60][61] and automated speech assessment[62] during the diagnostic process but on the whole these remain research topics.
In 2018, the American Psychological Association commissioned a review to reach a consensus on whether modern clinical MRI/fMRI will be able to be used in the diagnosis of mental health disorders. The criteria presented by the APA stated that the biomarkers used in diagnosis should:
"have a sensitivity of at least 80% for detecting a particular psychiatric disorder"
"should have a specificity of at least 80% for distinguishing this disorder from other psychiatric or medical disorders"
"should be reliable, reproducible, and ideally be noninvasive, simple to perform, and inexpensive"
"proposed biomarkers should be verified by 2 independent studies each by a different investigator and different population samples and published in a peer-reviewed journal"
The review concluded that although neuroimaging diagnosis may technically be feasible, very large studies are needed to evaluate specific biomarkers which were not available.[63]
The stated intention of diagnostic manuals is typically to develop replicable and clinically useful categories and criteria, to facilitate consensus and agreed upon standards, whilst being atheoretical as regards etiology.[65][67] However, the categories are nevertheless based on particular psychiatric theories and data; they are broad and often specified by numerous possible combinations of symptoms, and many of the categories overlap in symptomology or typically occur together.[68] While originally intended only as a guide for experienced clinicians trained in its use, the nomenclature is now widely used by clinicians, administrators and insurance companies in many countries.[69]
The DSM has attracted praise for standardizing psychiatric diagnostic categories and criteria. It has also attracted controversy and criticism. Some critics argue that the DSM represents an unscientific system that enshrines the opinions of a few powerful psychiatrists. There are ongoing issues concerning the validity and reliability of the diagnostic categories; the reliance on superficial symptoms; the use of artificial dividing lines between categories and from 'normality'; possible cultural bias; medicalization of human distress and financial conflicts of interest, including with the practice of psychiatrists and with the pharmaceutical industry; political controversies about the inclusion or exclusion of diagnoses from the manual, in general or in regard to specific issues; and the experience of those who are most directly affected by the manual by being diagnosed, including the consumer/survivor movement.[70][71][72][73]
NIMH federal agency patient room for Psychiatric research, Maryland, US
Individuals receiving psychiatric treatment are commonly referred to as patients but may also be called clients, consumers, or service recipients. They may come under the care of a psychiatric physician or other psychiatric practitioners by various paths, the two most common being self-referral or referral by a primary care physician. Alternatively, a person may be referred by hospital medical staff, by court order, involuntary commitment, or, in countries such as the UK and Australia, by sectioning under a mental health law.
A psychiatrist or medical provider evaluates people through a psychiatric assessment for their mental and physical condition. This usually involves interviewing the person and often obtaining information from other sources such as other health and social care professionals, relatives, associates, law enforcement personnel, emergency medical personnel, and psychiatric rating scales. A mental status examination is carried out, and a physical examination is usually performed to establish or exclude other illnesses that may be contributing to the alleged psychiatric problems. A physical examination may also serve to identify any signs of self-harm; this examination is often performed by someone other than the psychiatrist, especially if blood tests and medical imaging are performed.
Like most medications, psychiatric medications can cause adverse effects in patients, and some require ongoing therapeutic drug monitoring, for instance full blood counts, serum drug levels, renal function, liver function or thyroid function. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes administered for serious conditions, such as those unresponsive to medication. The efficacy[74][75] and adverse effects of psychiatric drugs may vary from patient to patient.
Psychiatric treatments have changed over the past several decades. In the past, psychiatric patients were often hospitalized for six months or more, with some cases involving hospitalization for many years.
Average inpatient psychiatric treatment stay has decreased significantly since the 1960s, a trend known as deinstitutionalization.[76][77][78][79] Today in most countries, people receiving psychiatric treatment are more likely to be seen as outpatients. If hospitalization is required, the average hospital stay is around one to two weeks, with only a small number receiving long-term hospitalization.[80] However, in Japan psychiatric hospitals continue to keep patients for long periods, sometimes even keeping them in physical restraints, strapped to their beds for periods of weeks or months.[81][82]
Psychiatric inpatients are people admitted to a hospital or clinic to receive psychiatric care. Some are admitted involuntarily, perhaps committed to a secure hospital, or in some jurisdictions to a facility within the prison system. In many countries including the United States and Canada, the criteria for involuntary admission vary with local jurisdiction. They may be as broad as having a mental health condition, or as narrow as being an immediate danger to themselves or others. Bed availability is often the real determinant of admission decisions to hard pressed public facilities.
People may be admitted voluntarily if the treating doctor considers that safety is not compromised by this less restrictive option. For many years, controversy has surrounded the use of involuntary treatment and use of the term "lack of insight" in describing patients. Internationally, mental health laws vary significantly but in many cases, involuntary psychiatric treatment is permitted when there is deemed to be a significant risk to the patient or others due to the patient's illness. Involuntary treatment refers to treatment that occurs based on a treating physician's recommendations, without requiring consent from the patient.[83]
Inpatient psychiatric wards may be secure (for those thought to have a particular risk of violence or self-harm) or unlocked/open. Some wards are mixed-sex whilst same-sex wards are increasingly favored to protect women inpatients. Once in the care of a hospital, people are assessed, monitored, and often given medication and care from a multidisciplinary team, which may include physicians, pharmacists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatric social workers, occupational therapists and social workers. If a person receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital is assessed as at particular risk of harming themselves or others, they may be put on constant or intermittent one-to-one supervision and may be put in physical restraints or medicated. People on inpatient wards may be allowed leave for periods of time, either accompanied or on their own.[84]
In many developed countries there has been a massive reduction in psychiatric beds since the mid 20th century, with the growth of community care. Italy has been a pioneer in psychiatric reform, particularly through the no-restraint initiative that began nearly fifty years ago. The Italian movement, heavily influenced by Franco Basaglia, emphasizes ethical treatment and the elimination of physical restraints in psychiatric care. A study examining the application of these principles in Italy found that 14 general hospital psychiatric units reported zero restraint incidents in 2022.[85]
Standards of inpatient care remain a challenge in some public and private facilities, due to levels of funding, and facilities in developing countries are typically grossly inadequate for the same reason. Even in developed countries, programs in public hospitals vary widely. Some may offer structured activities and therapies offered from many perspectives while others may only have the funding for medicating and monitoring patients. This may be problematic in that the maximum amount of therapeutic work might not actually take place in the hospital setting. This is why hospitals are increasingly used in limited situations and moments of crisis where patients are a direct threat to themselves or others. Alternatives to psychiatric hospitals that may actively offer more therapeutic approaches include rehabilitation centers or "rehab" as popularly termed.[citation needed]
Outpatient treatment involves periodic visits to a psychiatrist for consultation in his or her office, or at a community-based outpatient clinic. During initial appointments, a psychiatrist generally conducts a psychiatric assessment or evaluation of the patient. Follow-up appointments then focus on making medication adjustments, reviewing potential medication interactions, considering the impact of other medical disorders on the patient's mental and emotional functioning, and counseling patients regarding changes they might make to facilitate healing and remission of symptoms. The frequency with which a psychiatrist sees people in treatment varies widely, from once a week to twice a year, depending on the type, severity and stability of each person's condition, and depending on what the clinician and patient decide would be best.
Increasingly, psychiatrists are limiting their practices to psychopharmacology (prescribing medications), as opposed to previous practice in which a psychiatrist would provide traditional 50-minute psychotherapy sessions, of which psychopharmacology would be a part, but most of the consultation sessions consisted of "talk therapy". This shift began in the early 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s.[86] A major reason for this change was the advent of managed care insurance plans,[clarification needed] which began to limit reimbursement for psychotherapy sessions provided by psychiatrists. The underlying assumption was that psychopharmacology was at least as effective as psychotherapy, and it could be delivered more efficiently because less time is required for the appointment.[87][88][89][90][91][92][a][excessive citations] Because of this shift in practice patterns, psychiatrists often refer patients whom they think would benefit from psychotherapy to other mental health professionals, e.g., clinical social workers and psychologists.[93]
Telepsychiatry can be effective in treating people with mental health conditions. In the short-term it can be as acceptable and effective as face-to-face care.[96]
It can improve access to mental health services for some but might also represent a barrier for those lacking access to a suitable device, the internet or the necessary digital skills. Factors such as poverty that are associated with lack of internet access are also associated with greater risk of mental health problems, making digital exclusion an important problem of telemental health services.[96]
During the COVID-19 pandemic mental health services were adapted to telemental health in high-income countries. It proved effective and acceptable for use in an emergency situation but there were concerns regarding its long-term implementation.[97]
The earliest known texts on mental disorders are from ancient India and include the Ayurvedic text, Charaka Samhita.[98][99] The first hospitals for curing mental illness were established in India during the 3rd century BCE.[100]
Greek philosophers, including Thales, Plato, and Aristotle (especially in his De Anima treatise), also addressed the workings of the mind. As early as the 4th century BC, the Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical rather than supernatural causes. In 387 BCE, Plato suggested that the brain is where mental processes take place. In 4th to 5th century B.C. Greece, Hippocrates wrote that he visited Democritus and found him in his garden cutting open animals. Democritus explained that he was attempting to discover the cause of madness and melancholy. Hippocrates praised his work. Democritus had with him a book on madness and melancholy.[101] During the 5th century BCE, mental disorders, especially those with psychotic traits, were considered supernatural in origin,[102] a view which existed throughout ancient Greece and Rome,[102] as well as Egyptian regions.[103][page needed]Alcmaeon, believed the brain, not the heart, was the "organ of thought". He tracked the ascending sensory nerves from the body to the brain, theorizing that mental activity originated in the CNS and that the cause of mental illness resided within the brain. He applied this understanding to classify mental diseases and treatments.[17][104] Religious leaders often turned to versions of exorcism to treat mental disorders often utilizing methods that many consider to be cruel or barbaric methods. Trepanning was one of these methods used throughout history.[102]
In the 6th century AD, Lin Xie carried out an early psychological experiment, in which he asked people to draw a square with one hand and at the same time draw a circle with the other (ostensibly to test people's vulnerability to distraction). It has been cited that this was an early psychiatric experiment.[105]
The Islamic Golden Age fostered early studies in Islamic psychology and psychiatry, with many scholars writing about mental disorders. The Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, also known as "Rhazes", wrote texts about psychiatric conditions in the 9th century.[106] As chief physician of a hospital in Baghdad, he was also the director of one of the first bimaristans in the world.[106]
The first bimaristan was founded in Baghdad in the 9th century, and several others of increasing complexity were created throughout the Arab world in the following centuries. Some of the bimaristans contained wards dedicated to the care of mentally ill patients.[107] During the Middle Ages, Psychiatric hospitals and lunatic asylums were built and expanded throughout Europe. Specialist hospitals such as Bethlem Royal Hospital in London were built in medieval Europe from the 13th century to treat mental disorders, but were used only as custodial institutions and did not provide any type of treatment. It is the oldest extant psychiatric hospital in the world.[108]
An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin–yang balance, and analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria. Chinese scholarship that focused on the brain advanced during the Qing Dynasty with the work of Western-educated Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), Liu Zhi (1660–1730), and Wang Qingren (1768–1831). Wang Qingren emphasized the importance of the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorder with brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams, insomnia, psychosis, depression and epilepsy.[105]
The beginning of psychiatry as a medical specialty is dated to the middle of the nineteenth century,[109] although its germination can be traced to the late eighteenth century. In the late 17th century, privately run asylums for the insane began to proliferate and expand in size. In 1713, the Bethel Hospital Norwich was opened, the first purpose-built asylum in England.[110] In 1656, Louis XIV of France created a public system of hospitals for those with mental disorders, but as in England, no real treatment was applied.[111]
During the Enlightenment, attitudes towards the mentally ill began to change. It came to be viewed as a disorder that required compassionate treatment. In 1758, English physician William Battie wrote his Treatise on Madness on the management of mental disorder. It was a critique aimed particularly at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, where a conservative regime continued to use barbaric custodial treatment. Battie argued for a tailored management of patients entailing cleanliness, good food, fresh air, and distraction from friends and family. He argued that mental disorder originated from dysfunction of the material brain and body rather than the internal workings of the mind.[112][113]
Dr. Philippe Pinel at the Salpêtrière, 1795 by Tony Robert-Fleury. Pinel ordering the removal of chains from patients at the Paris Asylum for insane women.
The introduction of moral treatment was initiated independently by the French doctor Philippe Pinel and the English QuakerWilliam Tuke.[102] In 1792, Pinel became the chief physician at the Bicêtre Hospital. Patients were allowed to move freely about the hospital grounds, and eventually dark dungeons were replaced with sunny, well-ventilated rooms. Pinel's student and successor, Jean Esquirol (1772–1840), went on to help establish 10 new mental hospitals that operated on the same principles.[114]
Although Tuke, Pinel and others had tried to do away with physical restraint, it remained widespread into the 19th century. At the Lincoln Asylum in England, Robert Gardiner Hill, with the support of Edward Parker Charlesworth, pioneered a mode of treatment that suited "all types" of patients, so that mechanical restraints and coercion could be dispensed with—a situation he finally achieved in 1838. In 1839, Sergeant John Adams and Dr. John Conolly were impressed by the work of Hill, and introduced the method into their Hanwell Asylum, by then the largest in the country.[115][116][page needed]
The modern era of institutionalized provision for the care of the mentally ill, began in the early 19th century with a large state-led effort. In England, the Lunacy Act 1845 was an important landmark in the treatment of the mentally ill, as it explicitly changed the status of mentally ill people to patients who required treatment. All asylums were required to have written regulations and to have a resident qualified physician.[117][full citation needed] In 1838, France enacted a law to regulate both the admissions into asylums and asylum services across the country. In the United States, the erection of state asylums began with the first law for the creation of one in New York, passed in 1842. The Utica State Hospital was opened around 1850. Many state hospitals in the United States were built in the 1850s and 1860s on the Kirkbride Plan, an architectural style meant to have curative effect.[118][page needed]
At the turn of the century, England and France combined had only a few hundred individuals in asylums.[119] By the late 1890s and early 1900s, this number had risen to the hundreds of thousands. However, the idea that mental illness could be ameliorated through institutionalization ran into difficulties.[120] Psychiatrists were pressured by an ever-increasing patient population,[120] and asylums again became almost indistinguishable from custodial institutions.[121]
In the early 1800s, psychiatry made advances in the diagnosis of mental illness by broadening the category of mental disease to include mood disorders, in addition to disease level delusion or irrationality.[122] The 20th century introduced a new psychiatry into the world, with different perspectives of looking at mental disorders. For Emil Kraepelin, the initial ideas behind biological psychiatry, stating that the different mental disorders are all biological in nature, evolved into a new concept of "nerves", and psychiatry became a rough approximation of neurology and neuropsychiatry.[123] Following Sigmund Freud's pioneering work, ideas stemming from psychoanalytic theory also began to take root in psychiatry.[124] The psychoanalytic theory became popular among psychiatrists because it allowed the patients to be treated in private practices instead of warehoused in asylums.[124]
By the 1970s, however, the psychoanalytic school of thought became marginalized within the field.[124] Biological psychiatry reemerged during this time. Psychopharmacology and neurochemistry became the integral parts of psychiatry starting with Otto Loewi's discovery of the neuromodulatory properties of acetylcholine; thus identifying it as the first-known neurotransmitter. Subsequently, it has been shown that different neurotransmitters have different and multiple functions in regulation of behaviour. In a wide range of studies in neurochemistry using human and animal samples, individual differences in neurotransmitters' production, reuptake, receptors' density and locations were linked to differences in dispositions for specific psychiatric disorders. For example, the discovery of chlorpromazine's effectiveness in treating schizophrenia in 1952 revolutionized treatment of the disorder,[125] as did lithium carbonate's ability to stabilize mood highs and lows in bipolar disorder in 1948.[126] Psychotherapy was still utilized, but as a treatment for psychosocial issues.[127] This proved the idea of neurochemical nature of many psychiatric disorders.
Another approach to look for biomarkers of psychiatric disorders is [128]Neuroimaging that was first utilized as a tool for psychiatry in the 1980s.[129]
In 1963, US presidentJohn F. Kennedy introduced legislation delegating the National Institute of Mental Health to administer Community Mental Health Centers for those being discharged from state psychiatric hospitals.[130] Later, though, the Community Mental Health Centers focus shifted to providing psychotherapy for those with acute but less serious mental disorders.[130] Ultimately there were no arrangements made for actively following and treating severely mentally ill patients who were being discharged from hospitals, resulting in a large population of chronically homeless people with mental illness.[130]
The institution of psychiatry has attracted controversy since its inception.[131]: 47 Scholars including those from social psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and critical psychiatry have produced critiques.[131]: 47 It has been argued that psychiatry confuses disorders of the mind with disorders of the brain that can be treated with drugs;[131]: 53 : 47 that its use of drugs is in part due to lobbying by drug companies resulting in distortion of research;[131]: 51 and that the concept of "mental illness" is often used to label and control those with beliefs and behaviours that the majority of people disagree with;[131]: 50 and that it is too influenced by ideas from medicine causing it to misunderstand the nature of mental distress.[131] Critique of psychiatry from within the field comes from the critical psychiatry group in the UK.
Double argues that most critical psychiatry is anti-reductionist. Rashed argues new mental health science has moved beyond this reductionist critique by seeking integrative and biopsychosocial models for conditions and that much of critical psychiatry now exists with orthodox psychiatry but notes that many critiques remain unaddressed[132]: 237
The term anti-psychiatry was coined by psychiatrist David Cooper in 1967 and was later made popular by Thomas Szasz. The word Antipsychiatrie was already used in Germany in 1904.[133] The basic premise of the anti-psychiatry movement is that psychiatrists attempt to classify "normal" people as "deviant"; psychiatric treatments are ultimately more damaging than helpful to patients; and psychiatry's history involves (what may now be seen as) dangerous treatments, such as psychosurgery an example of this being the frontal lobectomy (commonly called a lobotomy).[134] The use of lobotomies largely disappeared by the late 1970s.
^This article does not enter into that debate or seek to summarize the comparative efficacy literature. It simply explains why managed care insurance companies stopped routinely reimbursing psychiatrists for traditional psychotherapy, without commenting on the validity of that rationale.
^López-Muñoz F, Alamo C, Dudley M, Rubio G, García-García P, Molina JD, Okasha A (May 2007). "Psychiatry and political-institutional abuse from the historical perspective: the ethical lessons of the Nuremberg Trial on their 60th anniversary". Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry. 31 (4). Cecilio Alamoa, Michael Dudleyb, Gabriel Rubioc, Pilar García-Garcíaa, Juan D. Molinad and Ahmed Okasha: 791–806. doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.12.007. PMID17223241. S2CID39675837. These practices, in which racial hygiene constituted one of the fundamental principles and euthanasia programmes were the most obvious consequence, violated the majority of known bioethical principles. Psychiatry played a central role in these programmes, and the mentally ill were the principal victims.
^Debreu G (1988). "Introduction". In Corillon C (ed.). Science and Human Rights. The National Academies Press. p. 21. doi:10.17226/9733. ISBN978-0-309-57510-2. PMID25077249. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2007-10-04. Over the past two decades the systematic use of torture and psychiatric abuse have been sanctioned or condoned by more than one-third of the nations in the United Nations, about half of mankind.
^Kirk S, Gomory T, Cohen D (2013). Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ISBN978-1-4128-4976-0. OCLC935892629.
^Verhulst J, Tucker G (May 1995). "Medical and narrative approaches in psychiatry". Psychiatric Services. 46 (5): 513–4. doi:10.1176/ps.46.5.513. PMID7627683.
^McLeod S (2014). "Psychoanalysis". Simply Psychology. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 29 March2015.
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^"About AACP". American Association of Community Psychiatrists. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
^Suman F (2010). Mental health, race and culture (3rd ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN978-0-230-21271-8. OCLC455800587.
^Suman F (2014-04-11). Mental health worldwide: culture, globalization and development. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire. ISBN978-1-137-32958-5. OCLC869802072.
^Meyendorf R (1980). "[Diagnosis and differential diagnosis in psychiatry and the question of situation referred prognostic diagnosis]" [Diagnosis and differential diagnosis in psychiatry and the question of situation referred prognostic diagnosis]. Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie, Neurochirurgie und Psychiatrie=Archives Suisses de Neurologie, Neurochirurgie et de Psychiatrie (in German). 126 (1): 121–34. PMID7414302.
^Hampel H, Teipel SJ, Kötter HU, Horwitz B, Pfluger T, Mager T, Möller HJ, Müller-Spahn F (May 1997). "[Structural magnetic resonance tomography in diagnosis and research of Alzheimer type dementia]" [Structural magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosis and research of Alzheimer's disease]. Der Nervenarzt(in German). 68 (5): 365–78. doi:10.1007/s001150050138. PMID9280846. S2CID35203096.
^Townsend BA, Petrella JR, Doraiswamy PM (July 2002). "The role of neuroimaging in geriatric psychiatry". Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 15 (4): 427–32. doi:10.1097/00001504-200207000-00014. S2CID147489857.
^Hensch T, Herold U, Brocke B (August 2007). "An electrophysiological endophenotype of hypomanic and hyperthymic personality". Journal of Affective Disorders. 101 (1–3): 13–26. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.11.018. PMID17207536.
^Vonk R, van der Schot AC, Kahn RS, Nolen WA, Drexhage HA (July 2007). "Is autoimmune thyroiditis part of the genetic vulnerability (or an endophenotype) for bipolar disorder?". Biological Psychiatry. 62 (2): 135–40. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.08.041. PMID17141745. S2CID23676927.
^ Jump up to:abcAmerican Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th, text revision ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. ISBN978-0-89042-025-6.
^Chen YF (March–June 2002). "Chinese classification of mental disorders (CCMD-3): towards integration in international classification". Psychopathology. 35 (2–3): 171–5. doi:10.1159/000065140. PMID12145505. S2CID24080102.
^Pincus HA, Zarin DA, First M (December 1998). ""Clinical significance" and DSM-IV". Letters to the Editor. Archives of General Psychiatry. 55 (12): 1145, author reply 1147–8. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.55.12.1145. PMID9862559.
^Fisher, William H., Jeffrey L. Geller, and Dana L. McMannus. "Same Problem, Different Century: Issues in Recreating the Functions of State Psychiatric Hospitals in Community-Based Settings". In 50 Years after Deinstitutionalization: Mental Illness in Contemporary Communities, edited by Brea L. Perry, 3–25. Vol. 17 of Advances in Medical Sociology. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing, 2016. doi:10.1108/amso ISSN:1057-6290
^Mechanic D, McAlpine DD, Olfson M (September 1998). "Changing patterns of psychiatric inpatient care in the United States, 1988–1994". Archives of General Psychiatry. 55 (9): 785–791. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.55.9.785. PMID9736004.
^Lee S, Rothbard AB, Noll EL (September 2012). "Length of inpatient stay of persons with serious mental illness: effects of hospital and regional characteristics". Psychiatric Services. 63 (9): 889–895. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201100412. PMID22751995.
^Mellman LA (March 2006). "How endangered is dynamic psychiatry in residency training?". The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. 34 (1): 127–33. doi:10.1521/jaap.2006.34.1.127. PMID16548751.
^Koenig HG (2005). "History of Mental Health Care". Faith and Mental Health: Religious Resources for Healing. West Conshohocken: Templeton Foundation Press. p. 36. ISBN978-1-59947-078-8. OCLC476009436.
^Burton R (1881). The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it is with All the Kinds, Causes, Symptoms, Prognostics, and Several Cures of it: in Three Partitions, with Their Several Sections, Members and Subsections Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically Opened and Cut Up. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 22, 24. OL3149647W.
^ Jump up to:abcdElkes A, Thorpe JG (1967). A Summary of Psychiatry. London: Faber & Faber. p. 13. OCLC4687317.
^Dumont F (2010). A history of personality psychology: Theory, science and research from Hellenism to the twenty-first century. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-11632-9. OCLC761231096.
^Janssen, Diederik F.; Hubbard, Thomas K. (May 2021). "Psychology: Early print uses of the term by Pier Nicola Castellani (1525) and Gerhard Synellius (1525)". History of Psychology. 24(2): 182–187. doi:10.1037/hop0000187. ISSN1939-0610. PMID34081519. S2CID235334263.
^Bynum WF, Porter R, Shepherd M, eds. (1988). The Asylum and its psychiatry. The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the history of psychiatry. Vol. 3. London: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-00859-4. OCLC538062123.
Berrios GE (1996). History of Mental symptoms: The History of Descriptive Psychopathology since the 19th century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-511-52672-5. OCLC668203298.
Ford-Martin PA (2002). "Psychosis". In Longe JL, Blanchfield DS (eds.). Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale Group. OCLC51166617.
Francis, Gavin, "Changing Psychiatry's Mind" (review of Anne Harrington, Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, Norton, 366 pp.; and Nathan Filer, This Book Will Change Your Mind about Mental Health: A Journey into the Heartland of Psychiatry, London, Faber and Faber, 248 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVIII, no. 1 (14 January 2021), pp. 26–29. "[M]ental disorders are different [from illnesses addressed by other medical specialties].... [T]o treat them as purely physical is to misunderstand their nature.""[C]are [needs to be] based on distress and [cognitive, emotional, and physical] need rather than [on psychiatric] diagnos[is]", which is often uncertain, erratic, and unreplicable. (p. 29.)
Halpern, Sue, "The Bull's-Eye on Your Thoughts" (review of Nita A. Farahany, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology, St. Martin's, 2023, 277 pp.; and Daniel Barron, Reading Our Minds: The Rise of Big Data Psychiatry, Columbia Global Reports, 2023, 150 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXX, no. 17 (2 November 2023), pp. 60–62. Psychiatrist Daniel Barron deplores psychiatry's reliance largely on subjective impressions of a patient's condition – on behavioral-pattern recognition – whereas other medical specialties dispose of a more substantial armamentarium of objective diagnostic technologies. A psychiatric patient's diagnoses are arguably more in the eye of the physician: "An anti-psychotic 'works' if a [psychiatric] patient looks and feels less psychotic." Barron also posits that talking– an important aspect of psychiatric diagnostics and treatment – involves vague, subjective language and therefore cannot reveal the brain's objective workings. He trusts, though, that Big Datatechnologies will make psychiatric signs and symptoms more quantifiably objective. Sue Halpern cautions, however, that "When numbers have no agreed-upon, scientifically-derived, extrinsic meaning, quantification is unavailing." (p. 62.)
Hirschfeld RM, Lewis L, Vornik LA (February 2003). "Perceptions and impact of bipolar disorder: how far have we really come? Results of the national depressive and manic-depressive association 2000 survey of individuals with bipolar disorder". The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 64 (2): 161–74. doi:10.4088/JCP.v64n0209. PMID12633125.
McGorry PD, Mihalopoulos C, Henry L, Dakis J, Jackson HJ, Flaum M, Harrigan S, McKenzie D, Kulkarni J, Karoly R (February 1995). "Spurious precision: procedural validity of diagnostic assessment in psychotic disorders". The American Journal of Psychiatry. 152 (2): 220–3. CiteSeerX10.1.1.469.3360. doi:10.1176/ajp.152.2.220. PMID7840355.
Moncrieff J, Cohen D (2005). "Rethinking models of psychotropic drug action". Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 74 (3): 145–53. doi:10.1159/000083999. PMID15832065. S2CID6917144.
Van Os J, Gilvarry C, Bale R, Van Horn E, Tattan T, White I, Murray R (May 1999). "A comparison of the utility of dimensional and categorical representations of psychosis. UK700 Group". Psychological Medicine. 29 (3): 595–606. doi:10.1017/s0033291798008162. PMID10405080. S2CID38854519.
Williams JB, Gibbon M, First MB, Spitzer RL, Davies M, Borus J, Howes MJ, Kane J, Pope HG, Rounsaville B (August 1992). "The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). II. Multisite test-retest reliability". Archives of General Psychiatry. 49 (8): 630–6. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1992.01820080038006. PMID1637253.
Hiruta G (June 2002). Beveridge A (ed.). "Japanese psychiatry in the Edo period (1600-1868)". History of Psychiatry. 13 (50): 131–51. doi:10.1177/0957154X0201305002. S2CID143377079.
Higher consciousness (also called expanded consciousness) is a term that has been used in various ways to label particular states of consciousness or personal development.[1] It may be used to describe a state of liberation from the limitations of self-concept or ego, as well as a state of mystical experience in which the perceived separation between the isolated self and the world or God is transcended.[1] It may also refer to a state of increased alertness or awakening to a new perspective.[1] While the concept has ancient roots, practices, and techniques, it has been significantly developed as a central notion in contemporary popular spirituality, including the New Age movement.
Fichte distinguished the finite or empirical ego from the pure or infinite ego. The activity of this "pure ego" can be discovered by a "higher intuition".[2][note 1][clarification needed]
According to Michael Whiteman, Fichte's philosophical system "is a remarkable western formulation of eastern mystical teachings (of which he seems to have had no direct knowledge)."[2]
In 1812, Arthur Schopenhauer started to use the term "the better consciousness", a consciousness that "lies beyond all experience and thus all reason, both theoretical and practical (instinct)."[3]
According to Yasuo Kamata, Schopenhauer's idea of "the better consciousness" finds its origin in Fichte's idea of a "higher consciousness" (höheres Bewusstsein)[4] or "higher intuition",[5] and also bears resemblance to Schelling's notion of "intellectual intuition".[4] According to Schopenhauer himself, his notion of a "better consciousness" was different from Schelling's notion of "intellectual intuition", since Schelling's notion required intellectual development of the understanding, while his notion of a "better consciousness" was "like a flash of insight, with no connection to the understanding."[4]
According to Schopenhauer,
The better consciousness in me lifts me into a world where there is no longer personality and causality or subject or object. My hope and my belief is that this better (supersensible and extra-temporal) consciousness will become my only one, and for that reason I hope that it is not God. But if anyone wants to use the expression God symbolically for the better consciousness itself or for much that we are able to separate or name, so let it be, yet not among philosophers I would have thought.[6]
Different types of higher states of consciousness can arise individually or in various combinations. The list of known types of higher states of consciousness:
modified states of consciousness, achieved with the help of meditative psychotechnics;
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) made a distinction between lower and higher self-consciousness.[8][9] In Schleirmacher's theology, self-consciousness contains "a feeling that points to the presence of an absolute other, God, as actively independent of the self and its 'world'."[10] For Schleiermacher, "all particular manifestations of piety share a common essence, the sense of dependency on God as the outside 'infinite'."[10] The feeling of dependency, or "God-consciousness", is a higher form of consciousness.[9] This consciousness is not "God himself",[11] since God would then no longer be "an infinite infinite, but a finite infinite, a mere projection of consciousness."[11]
For Schleiermacher, the lower self-consciousness is "the animal part of mankind", which includes basic sensations such as hunger, thirst, pain and pleasure, as well as basic drives and pleasures, and higher self-consciousness is, in the words of theologian Dawn DeVries, "the part of the human being that is capable of transcending animal instincts",[8] and the "point of contact with God". Bunge describes this as "the essence of being human".[8]
When this consciousness is present, "people are not alienated from God by their instincts".[8] The relation between the lower and the higher consciousness is akin to "Paul's struggle of the spirit to overcome the flesh",[8] or the distinction between the natural and the spiritual side of human beings.[9]
The 19th-century Transcendentalists saw the entire physical world as a representation of a higher spiritual world.[14] They believed that humans could elevate themselves above their animal instincts, attain a higher consciousness, and partake in this spiritual world.[15]
Higher self is a term associated with multiple belief systems, but its basic premise describes an eternal, omniscient, conscious, and intelligent being, who is one's real self. Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Movement, formally defined the higher self as "Atma the inseparable ray of the Universe and one self. It is the God above, more than within, us".[16] According to Blavatsky, each and every individual has a higher self.[17] She wrote:
By that higher intuition acquired by Theosophia—or God-knowledge, which carried the mind from the world of form into that of formless spirit, man has been sometimes enabled in every age and every country to perceive things in the interior or invisible world.[18]
Blavatsky refers to Fichte in her explanation of Theosophy:
Theosophy ... prompted such men as Hegel, Fichte and Spinoza to take up the labors of the old Grecian philosophers and speculate upon the One Substance—the Deity, the Divine All proceeding from the Divine Wisdom—incomprehensible, unknown and unnamed.[18]
Clairvoyant Edgar Cayce referred to higher consciousness as "the Christ pattern". This is not necessarily a tenet of Christianity, but the conviction that a regular person can be attuned to reach the same level of spirituality as did the historical Jesus.[21]
The idea of "lower" and "higher" consciousness has gained popularity in modern popular spirituality.[22] According to James Beverley, it lies at the heart of the New Age movement.[23] Most New Age literature defines the Higher self as an extension of the self to a godlike state. This Higher Self is essentially an extension of the worldly self. With this perspective, New Age texts teach that the self creates its own reality when in union with the Higher Self.[24]
Integral theoristKen Wilber has tried to integrate eastern and western models of the mind, using the notion of "lower" and "higher" consciousness. In his book The Spectrum of Consciousness Wilber describes consciousness as a spectrum with ordinary awareness at one end, and more profound types of awareness at higher levels.[25] In later works he describes the development of consciousness as a development from lower consciousness, through personal consciousness, to higher transpersonal consciousness.[22]
Gerald Edelman distinguishes higher consciousness or "secondary consciousness" from "primary consciousness", defined as simple awareness that includes perception and emotion. Higher consciousness in contrast, "involves the ability to be conscious of being conscious", and "allows the recognition by a thinking subject of his or her own acts and affections". Higher consciousness requires, at a minimal level semantic ability, and "in its most developed form, requires linguistic ability, or the mastery of a whole system of symbols and a grammar".[26]
Psychedelic drugs can be used to alter the brain cognition and perception, some believing this to be a state of higher consciousness and transcendence.[27] Typical psychedelic drugs are hallucinogens including LSD, DMT, cannabis, peyote, and psilocybin mushrooms.[27] According to Wolfson, these drug-induced altered states of consciousness may result in a more long-term and positive transformation of self.[28]
According to Dutta, psychedelic drugs may be used for psychoanalytic therapy,[27] as a means to gain access to the higher consciousness, thereby providing patients the ability to access memories that are held deep within their mind.[27]
Beverley, James (2009), Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions: A Comprehensive Introduction to the Religions of the World, Thomas Nelson, ISBN978-0785244912.
Crowley, Aleister (1996). The Law is for All. New Falcon Publications. ISBN1-56184-090-4.
DeVries, Dawn (2001), "12. 'Be Converted and Become as Little Children': Friedrich Schleiermacher on the Religious Significance of Childhood", in Bunge, Marcia JoAnn (ed.), The Child in Christian Thought, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Dutta, V. (July–September 2012), "Repression of Death Consciousness and the Psychedelic Trip", Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics: 336–342.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (1996), New Age Religion and Western Culture. Esotericism in the mirror of Secular Thought, Leiden/New York/Koln: E.J. Brill.
Hanegraaff, Woutner J. (1999). "New Age Spiritualities as Secular Religion: A Historian's Perspective". Social Compass. 46 (2): 145–60. doi:10.1177/003776899046002004. S2CID146647491.
Heisig, James W. (2003), "Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy", in Polly Young-Eisendrath; Shoji Muramoto (eds.), Jung, Christianity, and Buddhism., Routledge.
Ladd, Andrew; Anesko, Michael; Phillips, Jerry R.; Meyers, Karen (2010), Romanticism and Transcendentalism: 1800-1860, infoBase Publishing.
Merklinger, Philip M. (1993), Philosophy, Theology, and Hegel's Berlin Philosophy of Religion, 1821-1827, SUNY Press.
Miller, H. L., ed. (2016), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in Psychology, vol. 1, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, pp. 409–411.
Clarke, R. B. (2005). An Order Outside Time: A Jungian View of the Higher Self from Egypt to Christ. Hampton Roads Pub. ISBN978-1571744227.
Hanegraaff, W. J. (1996). New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. E.J. Brill. pp. 211ff. ISBN978-9004106963.
Holcombe, A. D.; Holcombe, S. M. (2005). "Biblically-Derived Concept of Mankind's Higher-Self-Lower Self Nature". Journal of Religion & Psychical Research. 28 (1): 20–24.
Prophet, Erin (2018). "Elizabeth Clare Prophet: Gender, Sexuality, and the Divine Feminine". In Giudice, Christian; Tøllefsen, Inga Bårdsen (eds.). Female Leaders in New Religious Movements. Springer International Publishing. ISBN978-3319615271.
Tumber, C. (2002). American Feminism and the Birth of New Age Spirituality: Searching for the Higher Self, 1875-1915. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-0847697496.
Versluis, Arthur (1993), American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions, Oxford University Press.
This article is about worldwide views of witchcraft. For an overview of Neopagan witchcraft, see Neopagan witchcraft. For the modern pagan religion, see Wicca. For other uses, see Witchcraft (disambiguation).
Witchcraft, as most commonly understood in both historical and present-day communities, is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning.[1] According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world".[2] The belief in witchcraft has been found in a great number of societies worldwide. Anthropologists have applied the English term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs in occult practices in many different cultures, and societies that have adopted the English language have often internalised the term.[3][4][5]
In Europe, belief in witchcraft traces back to classical antiquity. In medieval and early modern Europe, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used black magic or maleficium against their own community. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by their neighbors and followed from social tensions. Witches were sometimes said to have communed with evil beings or with the Devil, though anthropologist Jean La Fontaine notes that such accusations were mainly made against "enemies of the Church".[6] It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by the 'cunning folk' or 'wise people'. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. While magical healers and midwives were sometimes accused of witchcraft themselves,[7][4][8][9] they made up a minority of those accused. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.
Many indigenous belief systems that include the concept of witchcraft likewise define witches as malevolent, and seek healers and medicine people for protection against witchcraft.[10][11] Some African and Melanesian peoples believe witches are driven by an evil spirit or substance inside them. Modern witch-hunting takes place in parts of Africa and Asia.
Today, followers of certain types of modern paganism self-identify as witches and use the term witchcraft for their beliefs and practices.[12][13][14] Other neo-pagans avoid the term due to its negative connotations.[15]
The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions there is "difficulty of defining 'witches' and 'witchcraft' across cultures—terms that, quite apart from their connotations in popular culture, may include an array of traditional or faith healing practices and are not easily defined".[16]
The most common meaning of "witchcraft" worldwide is the use of harmful magic.[17] Belief in malevolent magic has been found in cultures worldwide, regardless of development.[3][18] Most societies have feared an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others. This may come from mankind's tendency "to want to assign occurrences of remarkable good or bad luck to agency, either human or superhuman".[19] Historians and anthropologists see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune.[19][20] Some cultures have feared witchcraft much less than others, because they tend to have other explanations for strange misfortune.[19] For example, the Gaels of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands historically held a strong belief in fairy folk, who could cause supernatural harm, and witch-hunting was very rare in these regions compared to other regions of the British Isles.[21]
Historian Ronald Hutton outlined five key characteristics ascribed to witches and witchcraft by most cultures that believe in this concept: the use of magic to cause harm or misfortune to others; it was used by the witch against their own community; powers of witchcraft were believed to have been acquired through inheritance or initiation; it was seen as immoral and often thought to involve communion with evil beings; and witchcraft could be thwarted by defensive magic, persuasion, intimidation or physical punishment of the alleged witch.[17]
It is commonly believed that witches use objects, words, and gestures to cause supernatural harm or that they simply have an innate power to do so. Hutton notes that both kinds of practitioners are often believed to exist in the same culture and that the two often overlap, in that someone with an inborn power could wield that power through material objects.[22]
One of the most influential works on witchcraft and concepts of magic was E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande, a study of Azande witchcraft beliefs published in 1937. This provided definitions for witchcraft which became a convention in anthropology.[20] However, some researchers argue that the general adoption of Evans-Pritchard's definitions constrained discussion of witchcraft beliefs, and even broader discussion of magic and religion, in ways that his work does not support.[23] Evans-Pritchard reserved the term "witchcraft" for the actions of those who inflict harm by their inborn power and used "sorcery" for those who needed tools to do so.[24] Historians found these definitions difficult to apply to European witchcraft, where witches were believed to use physical techniques, as well as some who were believed to cause harm by thought alone.[25][26] The distinction "has now largely been abandoned, although some anthropologists still sometimes find it relevant to the particular societies with which they are concerned".[22]
While most cultures believe witchcraft to be something willful, some Indigenous peoples in Africa and Melanesia believe witches have a substance or an evil spirit in their bodies that drives them to do harm.[22] However, such substances are described in other accounts as being able to act on their own while the witch is sleeping or unaware.[23] The Dobu people believe women work harmful magic in their sleep while men work it while awake.[27] Further, in cultures where substances within the body are believed to grant supernatural powers, the substance may be good, bad, or morally neutral.[28][29] Hutton draws a distinction between those who unwittingly cast the evil eye and those who deliberately do so, describing only the latter as witches.[19]
The universal or cross-cultural validity of these terms are debated.[20] Hutton states:
[Malevolent magic] is, however, only one current usage of the word. In fact, Anglo-American senses of it now take at least four different forms, although the one discussed above seems still to be the most widespread and frequent. The others define the witch figure as any person who uses magic... or as the practitioner of nature-based Pagan religion; or as a symbol of independent female authority and resistance to male domination. All have validity in the present.[19]
Anthropologist Fiona Bowie notes that the terms "witchcraft" and "witch" are used differently by scholars and the general public in at least four different ways that must be treated separately.[20] Neopagan writer Isaac Bonewits proposed dividing witches into even more distinct types including, but not limited to: Neopagan, Feminist, Neogothic, Neoclassical, Classical, Family Traditions, Immigrant Traditions, and Ethnic.[30]
The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft').[31] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer').[32]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wicce and wicca were probably derived from the Old English verb wiccian, meaning 'to practice witchcraft'.[33]Wiccian has a cognate in Middle Low Germanwicken (attested from the 13th century). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in other Germanic languages outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have derived.
Another Old English word for 'witch' was hægtes or hægtesse, which became the modern English word "hag" and is linked to the word "hex". In most other Germanic languages, their word for 'witch' comes from the same root as these; for example GermanHexe and Dutchheks.[34]
In colloquial modern English, the word witch is particularly used for women.[35] A male practitioner of magic or witchcraft is more commonly called a 'wizard', or sometimes, 'warlock'. When the word witch is used to refer to a member of a neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca), it can refer to a person of any gender.[citation needed]
Preparation for the Witches' Sabbath by David Teniers the Younger. It shows a witch brewing a potion overlooked by her familiar spirit or a demon; items on the floor for casting a spell; and another witch reading from a grimoire while anointing the buttocks of a young witch about to fly upon an inverted besom.
Witches are commonly believed to cast curses; a spell or set of magical words and gestures intended to inflict supernatural harm.[36] Cursing could also involve inscribing runes or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers; burning or binding a wax or clay image (a poppet) of a person to affect them magically; or using herbs, animal parts and other substances to make potions or poisons.[37][38][39][22] Witchcraft has been blamed for many kinds of misfortune. In Europe, by far the most common kind of harm attributed to witchcraft was illness or death suffered by adults, their children, or their animals. "Certain ailments, like impotence in men, infertility in women, and lack of milk in cows, were particularly associated with witchcraft". Illnesses that were poorly understood were more likely to be blamed on witchcraft. Edward Bever writes: "Witchcraft was particularly likely to be suspected when a disease came on unusually swiftly, lingered unusually long, could not be diagnosed clearly, or presented some other unusual symptoms".[40]
A common belief in cultures worldwide is that witches tend to use something from their target's body to work magic against them; for example hair, nail clippings, clothing, or bodily waste. Such beliefs are found in Europe, Africa, South Asia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and North America.[22] Another widespread belief among Indigenous peoples in Africa and North America is that witches cause harm by introducing cursed magical objects into their victim's body; such as small bones or ashes.[22]James George Frazer described this kind of magic as imitative.[a]
In some cultures, witches are believed to use human body parts in magic,[22] and they are commonly believed to murder children for this purpose. In Europe, "cases in which women did undoubtedly kill their children, because of what today would be called postpartum psychosis, were often interpreted as yielding to diabolical temptation".[42]
Witches are believed to work in secret, sometimes alone and sometimes with other witches. Hutton writes: "Across most of the world, witches have been thought to gather at night, when normal humans are inactive, and also at their most vulnerable in sleep".[22] In most cultures, witches at these gatherings are thought to transgress social norms by engaging in cannibalism, incest and open nudity.[22]
Witches around the world commonly have associations with animals.[43]Rodney Needham identified this as a defining feature of the witch archetype.[44] In some parts of the world, it is believed witches can shapeshift into animals,[45] or that the witch's spirit travels apart from their body and takes an animal form, an activity often associated with shamanism.[45] Another widespread belief is that witches have an animal helper.[45] In English these are often called "familiars", and meant an evil spirit or demon that had taken an animal form.[45] As researchers examined traditions in other regions, they widened the term to servant spirit-animals which are described as a part of the witch's own soul.[46]
Necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy, although the term has also been applied to raising the dead for other purposes. The biblical Witch of Endor performed it (1 Samuel 28th chapter), and it is among the witchcraft practices condemned by Ælfric of Eynsham:[47][48][49] "Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arises from death."[50]
Diorama of a cunning woman or wise woman in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
Most societies that have believed in harmful or black magic have also believed in helpful magic. Some have called it white magic, at least in more recent times.[51] Where belief in harmful magic exists, its use is typically forbidden by law as well as hated and feared by the general populace, while helpful "white" or apotropaic magic is tolerated or even accepted wholesale by the population, even if the orthodox establishment opposes it.[52]
In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic, usually known as cunning folk, have traditionally[timeframe?] provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, healing, divination, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic.[53] In Britain, and some other parts of Europe, they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people.[53] Alan McFarlane wrote that while cunning folk is the usual name, some are also known as 'blessers' or 'wizards', but might also be known as 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding witches'.[54] Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century.[55] Ronald Hutton uses the general term "service magicians".[53] Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.[51]
Such helpful magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practiced maleficium—that is, magic used for harmful ends".[56] In the early years of the witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace".[56] Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by falsely branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft',[53] but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services.[57] The English MP and skeptic Reginald Scot sought to disprove magic and witchcraft, writing in The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), "At this day, it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman'".[58] Historian Keith Thomas adds "Nevertheless, it is possible to isolate that kind of 'witchcraft' which involved the employment (or presumed employment) of some occult means of doing harm to other people in a way which was generally disapproved of. In this sense the belief in witchcraft can be defined as the attribution of misfortune to occult human agency".[4]
Emma Wilby says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,[59] which could lead to their being accused as malevolent witches. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed fairyfamiliars had been demonised.[60]
Hutton says that healers and cunning folk "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".[51] Likewise, Davies says "relatively few cunning-folk were prosecuted under secular statutes for witchcraft" and were dealt with more leniently than alleged witches. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532) of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617, stated that workers of folk magic should be dealt with differently from witches.[61] It was suggested by Richard Horsley that cunning folk (devins-guerisseurs, 'diviner-healers') made up a significant proportion of those tried for witchcraft in France and Switzerland, but more recent surveys conclude that they made up less than 2% of the accused.[62] However, Éva Pócs says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers,[63] and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers.[64]
A witch bottle, used as counter-magic against witchcraft
Societies that believed in witchcraft also believed that it could be thwarted in various ways. One common way was to use protective magic or counter-magic, of which the cunning folk were experts.[51] This included charms, talismans and amulets, anti-witch marks, witch bottles, witch balls, and burying objects such as horse skulls inside the walls of buildings.[65] Another believed cure for bewitchment was to persuade or force the alleged witch to lift their spell.[51] Often, people would attempt to thwart the witchcraft by physically punishing the alleged witch, such as by banishing, wounding, torturing or killing them. "In most societies, however, a formal and legal remedy was preferred to this sort of private action", whereby the alleged witch would be prosecuted and then formally punished if found guilty.[51] This often resulted in execution.
Throughout the world, accusations of witchcraft are often linked to social and economic tensions. Females are most often accused, but in some cultures it is mostly males. In many societies, accusations are directed mainly against the elderly, but in others age is not a factor, and in some cultures it is mainly adolescents who are accused.[66]
Éva Pócs writes that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories. The first three of which were proposed by Richard Kieckhefer, and the fourth added by Christina Larner:[67]
A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbors
A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or occultism.
Witch-hunts, scapegoating, and the shunning or murder of suspected witches still occurs.[68] Many cultures worldwide continue to have a belief in the concept of "witchcraft" or malevolent magic.[69]
Apart from extrajudicial violence, state-sanctioned violence also occurs in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing witchcraft and sorcery is a crime punishable by death and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.[70][71][72]
Witchcraft-related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women.[73][74][75][76][77] In Tanzania, an estimated 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations of witchcraft or accusations of being a witch, according to a 2014 World Health Organization report.[78]
Children who live in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence that is related to witchcraft accusations.[79][80][81][82] Such incidents have also occurred in immigrant communities in the UK, including the much publicized case of the murder of Victoria Climbié.[83][84]
Working magic was widely accepted and deeply integrated into the religion and the wider Mesopotamian society.[85] According to Tzvi Abusch, the early stages of the development of witchcraft (ipšū or kišpū[86]) in ancient Mesopotamia were "comparable to the archaic shamanistic stage of European witchcraft".[87]: 65–66 In this early stage, witches were not necessarily considered evil, but took white and black forms and could help others using a combination of magical and medical knowledge.[87]: 65–66 They generally lived in rural areas and sometimes exhibited ecstatic behavior,[87]: 65–66 which was more usually associated with the ašipu (exorcist), whose main function at this stage of development was to battle non-human supernatural forces.[87]: 65–66
In ancient Mesopotamian religion, witches (m. kaššāpu, f. kaššāptu, from kašāpu ['to bewitch'][86]) eventually[when?] came to be "regarded as an anti-social and illegitimate practitioner of destructive magic ... whose activities were motivated by malice and evil intent and who was opposed by the ašipu, an exorcist or incantation-priest",[87]: 65–66 who were predominantly male representatives of the official state religion.[87] The individuals mentioned in records of Mesopotamian society as witches tended to be those of low status who were weak or otherwise marginalized, including women, foreigners, actors, and peddlers.[85]
By the time of the Code of Hammurabi (about 2000 BCE), the use of magic to harm others without justification was subject to legal repercussions:
If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him.[88][b]
The ašipu, in their continued efforts to suppress witchcraft,[87] developed an Akkadian anti-witchcraft ritual, the Maqlû, probably composed in the early first millennium BCE.[90]
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141 BCE to 87 BCE) in the Western Han Dynasty of China, there were instances where the imperial court took measures to suppress certain religious or spiritual practices, including those associated with shamanism. Emperor Wu was known for his strong support of Confucianism, which was the dominant ideology of the Han Dynasty, and he promoted policies that aimed to consolidate central authority and unify the cultural and social landscape of the empire.[91]
One notable event related to the suppression of shamanism occurred in 91 BCE, when Emperor Wu issued an edict that banned a range of "heterodox" practices, including shamanistic rituals and divination, in favor of Confucianism. The primary target of these measures was the Wuism or Wu (巫) tradition, which involved the worship of spirits and the use of shamanic practices to communicate with them. Wuism was considered by the Confucian elite to be superstitious witchcraft and at odds with Confucian principles.[92]
Emperor Wu's suppression of shamanism was part of a larger effort to centralize power, promote Confucian ethics, and standardize cultural practices. While the ban on shamanistic practices did impact certain communities and religious groups, these measures were not universally applied across the vast territory of the empire. Local variations and practices persisted in some regions despite imperial edicts.[91]
The historical record from that time is limited, and our understanding of these events can be influenced by the perspectives of the Confucian scholars and officials who documented them. As a result, there might be some variations in the interpretation of the exact nature and extent of the expulsion of shamans and other religious practitioners during Emperor Wu's reign.[91]
Witchcraft's historical evolution in the Middle East reveals a multi-phase journey influenced by culture, spirituality, and societal norms. Ancient witchcraft in the Near East intertwined mysticism with nature through rituals and incantations aligned with local beliefs. In ancient Judaism, magic had a complex relationship, with some forms accepted due to mysticism[93] while others were considered heretical.[89] The medieval Middle East experienced shifting perceptions of witchcraft under Islamic and Christian influences, sometimes revered for healing and other times condemned as heresy.
Jewish attitudes toward witchcraft were rooted in its association with idolatry and necromancy, and some rabbis even practiced certain forms of magic themselves.[94][95] References to witchcraft in the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, highlighted strong condemnations rooted in the "abomination" of magical belief. Christianity similarly condemned witchcraft, considering it an abomination and even citing specific verses to justify witch-hunting during the early modern period.
A 1613 English pamphlet showing "Witches apprehended, examined and executed"
In Christianity, sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among Catholics, Protestants, and the secular leadership of late medieval/early modern Europe, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. The fifteenth century saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft. Tens of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.[98][99]: 23 In Scots, the word warlock came to be used as the male equivalent of witch (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).[100][101][102]
The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for 'Hammer of The Witches') was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants[103] for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. It became the handbook for secular courts throughout Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on it.[104] It was the most sold book in Europe for over 100 years, after the Bible.[105]
Islamic perspectives on magic encompass a wide range of practices,[106] with belief in black magic and the evil eye coexisting alongside strict prohibitions against its practice.[107] The Quran acknowledges the existence of magic and seeks protection from its harm. Islam's stance is against the practice of magic, considering it forbidden, and emphasizes divine miracles rather than magic or witchcraft.[108] The historical continuity of witchcraft in the Middle East underlines the complex interaction between spiritual beliefs and societal norms across different cultures and epochs.
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Prevalence of belief in witchcraft by country[117]Socio-demographic correlates of witchcraft beliefs[117]
A 2022 study found that belief in witchcraft, as in the use of malevolent magic or powers, is still widespread in some parts of the world. It found that belief in witchcraft varied from 9% of people in some countries to 90% in others, and was linked to cultural and socioeconomic factors. Stronger belief in witchcraft correlated with poorer economic development, weak institutions, lower levels of education, lower life expectancy, lower life satisfaction, and high religiosity.[118][117]
It contrasted two hypotheses about future changes in witchcraft belief:[117]
witchcraft beliefs should decline "in the process of development due to improved security and health, lower exposure to shocks, spread of education and scientific approach to explaining life events" according to standard modernization theory
"some aspects of development, namely rising inequality, globalization, technological change, and migration, may instead revive witchcraft beliefs by disrupting established social order" according to literature largely inspired by observations from Sub-Saharan Africa.
An Azande witch doctor, who is believed to cure bewitchment
African witchcraft encompasses various beliefs and practices. These beliefs often play a significant role in shaping social dynamics and can influence how communities address challenges and seek spiritual assistance. Much of what witchcraft represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, thanks in no small part to a tendency among western scholars since the time of the now largely discredited Margaret Murray to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft.[119]
While some colonialists tried to eradicate witch hunting by introducing legislation to prohibit accusations of witchcraft, some of the countries where this was the case have formally recognized the existence of witchcraft via the law. This has produced an environment that encourages persecution of suspected witches.[120]
In Cameroon among the Maka people, witchcraft is known as "djambe" and encompasses occult, transformative, killing, and healing aspects.[121] In the Central African Republic, hundreds of people are convicted of witchcraft annually, with reports of violent acts against accused women.[122] The Democratic Republic of the Congo witnessed a disturbing trend of child witchcraft accusations in Kinshasa, leading to abuse and exorcisms supervised by self-styled pastors.[123]Ghana grapples with accusations against women, leading to the existence of witch camps where accused individuals can seek refuge, though the government plans to close them.[124]
In Kenya, there have been reports of mobs burning people accused of witchcraft, reflecting the deep-seated beliefs in the supernatural.[125]Malawi faces a similar issue of child witchcraft accusations, with traditional healers and some Christian counterparts involved in exorcisms, causing abandonment and abuse of children.[126] In Nigeria, Pentecostal pastors have intertwined Christianity with witchcraft beliefs for profit, leading to the torture and killing of accused children.[127]Sierra Leone's Mende people see witchcraft convictions as beneficial, as the accused receive support and care from the community.[128]
Lastly, in Zulu culture, healers known as sangomas protect people from witchcraft and evil spirits through divination and ancestral connections.[129] However, concerns arise regarding the training and authenticity of some sangomas.
The views of witchcraft in North America have evolved through an interlinking history of cultural beliefs and interactions. These forces contribute to complex and evolving views of witchcraft. Today, North America hosts a diverse array of beliefs about witchcraft.[134][135]
Indigenous communities such as the Cherokee,[136]Hopi,[137] the Navajo[5] among others,[138] included in their folklore and beliefs which malevolent figures who could harm their communities, often resulting in severe punishments, including death.[139] These communities also recognized the role of medicine people as healers and protectors against these malevolent forces.[citation needed]
The term witchcraft arrived with European colonists, along with European views on witchcraft.[134] This term would be adopted by many Indigenous communities for those beliefs about harmful supernatural powers. In colonial America and the United States, views of witchcraft were further shaped by European colonists. The infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, along with other witch hunts in places like Maryland and Pennsylvania, exemplified European and Christian fear and hysteria surrounding accusations of witchcraft. These trials led to the execution of numerous individuals accused of practicing witchcraft. Despite changes in laws and perspectives over time, accusations of witchcraft persisted into the 19th century in some regions, such as Tennessee, where prosecutions occurred as late as 1833.
When Franciscan friars from New Spain arrived in the Americas in 1524, they introduced Diabolism—belief in the Christian Devil—to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.[143] Bartolomé de las Casas believed that human sacrifice was not diabolic, in fact far off from it, and was a natural result of religious expression.[143] Mexican Indians gladly took in the belief of Diabolism and still managed to keep their belief in creator-destroyer deities.[144]
Witchcraft was an important part of the social and cultural history of late-Colonial Mexico, during the Mexican Inquisition. Spanish Inquisitors viewed witchcraft as a problem that could be cured simply through confession. Yet, as anthropologist Ruth Behar writes, witchcraft, not only in Mexico but in Latin America in general, was a "conjecture of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion, in which Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures converged."[145] Furthermore, witchcraft in Mexico generally required an interethnic and interclass network of witches.[146] Yet, according to anthropology professor Laura Lewis, witchcraft in colonial Mexico ultimately represented an "affirmation of hegemony" for women, Indians, and especially Indian women over their white male counterparts as a result of the casta system.[147]
Brujería, often called a Latin American form of witchcraft, is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean tradition that combines Indigenous religious and magical practices from Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao in the Dutch Caribbean, Catholicism, and European witchcraft.[149] The tradition and terminology is considered to encompass both helpful and harmful practices.[150] A male practitioner is called a brujo, a female practitioner, a bruja.[150] Healers may be further distinguished by the terms kurioso or kuradó, a man or woman who performs trabou chikí ("little works") and trabou grandi ("large treatments") to promote or restore health, bring fortune or misfortune, deal with unrequited love, and more serious concerns. Sorcery usually involves reference to an entity referred to as the almasola or homber chiki.[151]
Asian witchcraft encompasses various types of witchcraft practices across Asia. In ancient times, magic played a significant role in societies such as ancient Egypt and Babylonia, as evidenced by historical records. In the Middle East, references to magic can be found in the Torah, where witchcraft is condemned due to its association with belief in magic.
In Chinese culture, the practice of "Gong Tau" involves black magic for purposes such as revenge and financial assistance. Japanese folklore features witch figures who employ foxes as familiars. Korean history includes instances of individuals being condemned for using spells. The Philippines has its own tradition of witches, distinct from Western portrayals, with their practices often countered by indigenous shamans.
Overall, witchcraft beliefs and practices in Asia vary widely across cultures, reflecting historical, religious, and social contexts.
The practice of witchcraft in southwest Asia, sometimes referred to as the Middle East, has a long history. The ancient cultures of the region had complex relationships with magic, often integrating them deeply into both their religion and wider culture.[152] The ancient Hittites focused sanctioned mystical power in the hands of the state, and often used accusations of witchcraft to control political enemies.[153] As the ancient Hebrews focused on their worship on Yahweh, Judaism clearly separated between with forms of magic and mystical practices which were accepted, versus those which were viewed as forbidden or heretical, and thus "witchcraft".[154] In the medieval Middle East, under Islamic and Christian influences, witchcraft's perception fluctuated between healing and heresy, revered by some and condemned by others. In the present day diverse witchcraft communities have emerged.
One pivotal text that shaped the witch-hunts was the Malleus Maleficarum, a 1486 treatise that provided a framework for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing witches. The burgeoning influence of the Catholic Church[citation needed] led to a wave of witch trials across Europe. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbours and followed from social tensions. Accusations often targeted marginalized individuals, including women, the elderly, and those who did not conform to societal norms. Women made accusations as often as men. The common people believed that magical healers (called 'cunning folk' or 'wise people') could undo bewitchment. Hutton says that healers and cunning folk "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".[51] The witch-craze reached its peak between the 16th and 17th centuries, resulting in the execution of tens of thousands of people. This dark period of history reflects the confluence of superstition, fear, and authority, as well as the societal tendency to find scapegoats for complex problems.
The Tsardom of Russia also experienced its own iteration of witchcraft trials during the 17th century. Witches were often accused of practicing sorcery and engaging in supernatural activities, leading to their excommunication and execution. The blending of ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions in Russia's approach to witchcraft trials highlighted the intertwined nature of religious and political power during that time. As the 17th century progressed, the fear of witches shifted from mere superstition to a tool for political manipulation, with accusations used to target individuals who posed threats to the ruling elite.
Since the 1940s, neopagan witchcraft movements have emerged in Europe, seeking to revive and reinterpret ancient pagan and mystical practices. Wicca, pioneered by Gerald Gardner, stands out as one of the most influential neopagan traditions. Drawing inspiration from ceremonial magic, historical paganism, and the now-discredited witch-cult theory, Wicca emphasizes a connection to nature, the divine, and personal growth. Similarly, Stregheria in Italy reflects a desire to reconnect with the country's pre-Christian spiritual roots. Many of these neopagans choose to self-identify as "witches". Contemporary, neopagan witchcraft in Europe encompasses a wide range of traditions, reflecting a blend of historical influences, modern interpretations, new religious movements, and a search for spiritual authenticity in a rapidly changing world.
During the pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic.[156] According to Pliny, the 5th century BCE laws of the Twelve Tables laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic.[156] The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Cresimus.[156]
The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between the two.[157] In 331 BCE, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by veneficium. In 184–180 BCE, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 were executed for veneficium.[157] If the reports are accurate, writes Hutton, "then the Republican Romans hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world".[157]
Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis of 81 BCE, killing by veneficium carried the death penalty. During the early Imperial era, the Lex Cornelia began to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic,[157] including sacrifices made for evil purposes. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake.[156]
Witch characters—women who work powerful evil magic—appear in ancient Roman literature from the first century BCE onward. They are typically hags who chant harmful incantations; make poisonous potions from herbs and the body parts of animals and humans; sacrifice children; raise the dead; can control the natural world; can shapeshift themselves and others into animals; and invoke underworld deities and spirits. They include Lucan's Erichtho, Horace's Canidia, Ovid's Dipsas, and Apuleius's Meroe.[157]
In pre-Christian times, witchcraft was a common practice in the Cook Islands. The native name for a sorcerer was tangata purepure (a man who prays).[158] The prayers offered by the ta'unga (priests)[159] to the gods worshiped on national or tribal marae (temples) were termed karakia;[160] those on minor occasions to the lesser gods were named pure. All these prayers were metrical, and were handed down from generation to generation with the utmost care. There were prayers for every such phase in life; for success in battle; for a change in wind (to overwhelm an adversary at sea, or that an intended voyage be propitious); that his crops may grow; to curse a thief; or wish ill-luck and death to his foes. Few men of middle age were without a number of these prayers or charms. The succession of a sorcerer was from father to son, or from uncle to nephew. So too of sorceresses: it would be from mother to daughter, or from aunt to niece. Sorcerers and sorceresses were often slain by relatives of their supposed victims.[161]
A singular enchantment was employed to kill off a husband of a pretty woman desired by someone else. The expanded flower of a Gardenia was stuck upright—a very difficult performance—in a cup (i.e., half a large coconut shell) of water. A prayer was then offered for the husband's speedy death, the sorcerer earnestly watching the flower. Should it fall the incantation was successful. But if the flower still remained upright, he will live. The sorcerer would in that case try his skill another day, with perhaps better success.[162]
A local newspaper informed that more than fifty people were killed in two Highlands provinces of Papua New Guinea in 2008 for allegedly practicing witchcraft.[163] An estimated 50–150 alleged witches are killed each year in Papua New Guinea.[164]
Belief and practice of witchcraft are prevalent in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.[165] Unlike other provinces, the Samarai Islands and Milne Bay particularly sees much less violence against both those accused of witchcraft and women in general than other parts of the country.[165] It is suggested the history of witchcraft in the area contributes to a raise in status of women in the area overall.[165]
Albrecht Dürer c. 1500: Witch riding backwards on a goat
Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as Canon Episcopi, a demonology-centered work of literature, and Malleus Maleficarum, a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.[166] Witches in fiction span a wide array of characterizations. They are typically, but not always, female, and generally depicted as either villains or heroines.[167]
^"If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not."[41]
^Russell, Jeffrey Burton; Lewis, Ioan M. (2023). "Witchcraft". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023. Although defined differently in disparate historical and cultural contexts, witchcraft has often been seen, especially in the West, as the work of crones who meet secretly at night, indulge in cannibalism and orgiastic rites with the Devil, or Satan, and perform black magic. Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world.
^Riddle, John M. (1997). Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp. 110–119. ISBN0674270266.
^ Jump up to:abDoyle White, Ethan (2016). Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Liverpool University Press. pp. 1–9, 73. ISBN978-1-84519-754-4.
^Berger, Helen A.; Ezzy, Douglas (September 2009). "Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 48 (3): 501–514. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01462.x. ISSN0021-8294. JSTOR40405642.
^ Jump up to:abMills, Martin A. (March 2013). "The opposite of witchcraft: Evans-Pritchard and the problem of the person". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 19 (1): 18–33. doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12001. JSTOR42002806.
^Semple, Sarah (June 1998). "A fear of the past: The place of the prehistoric burial mound in the ideology of middle and later Anglo-Saxon England". World Archaeology. 30 (1): 109–126. doi:10.1080/00438243.1998.9980400. JSTOR125012.
^Pope, J.C. (1968). Homilies of Aelfric: a supplementary collection (Early English Text Society 260). Vol. II. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 796.
^Grell, Ole Peter; Scribner, Robert W. (2002). Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation. Cambridge University Press. p. 45. Not all the stereotypes created by elites were capable of popular reception [...] The most interesting example concerns cunning folk, whom secular and religious authorities consistently sought to associate with negative stereotypes of superstition or witchcraft. This proved no deterrent to their activities or to the positive evaluation in the popular mind of what they had to offer.
^Scot, Reginald (1584). "Chapter 9". The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Vol. Booke V.
^Stokker, Kathleen (2007). Remedies and Rituals: Folk Medicine in Norway and the New Land. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN978-0873517508. Supernatural healing of the sort practiced by Inger Roed and Lisbet Nypan, known as signeri, played a role in the vast majority of Norway's 263 documented witch trials. In trial after trial, accused 'witches' came forward and freely testified about their healing methods, telling about the salves they made and the bønner (prayers) they read over them to enhance their potency.
^Hoggard, Brian (2004). "The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic", in Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe, Manchester University Press. p. 167[ISBN missing]
^"A Global Issue that Demands Action"(PDF). the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna Liaison Office. 2013. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
^Bussien, Nathaly et al. 2011. Breaking the spell: Responding to witchcraft accusations against children, in New Issues in refugee Research (197). Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR
^Cimpric, Aleksandra 2010. Children accused of witchcraft, An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: UNICEF WCARO
^Molina, Javier Aguilar 2006. "The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Social cleansing, religious commerce and the difficulties of being a parent in an urban culture". London: Save the Children
^Human Rights Watch 2006. Children in the DRC. Human Rights Watch report, 18 (2)
^Bilefsky, Dan (10 May 2009). "Hard Times Give New Life to Prague's Golem". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013. According to Czech legend, the Golem was fashioned from clay and brought to life by a rabbi to protect Prague's 16th-century ghetto from persecution, and is said to be called forth in times of crisis. True to form, he is once again experiencing a revival, and in this commercial age, has spawned a one-monster industry.
^Russell, Jeffrey Burton. "Witchcraft". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June2013.
^Gibbons, Jenny (1998) "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt" in The PomegranateArchived 2009-01-26 at the Wayback Machine #5, Lammas 1998.
^McNeill, F. Marian (1957). The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. ISBN978-0862412319.
^Chambers, Robert (1861). Domestic Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland. ISBN978-1298711960.
^Sinclair, George (1871). Satan's Invisible World Discovered. Edinburgh.
^Jolly, Karen; Raudvere, Catharina; Peters, Edward (2002). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. New York: A&C Black. p. 241. ISBN978-0485890037. In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe everything the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.
^Okeja, Uchenna (2011). 'An African Context of the Belief in Witchcraft and Magic,' in Rational Magic. Fisher Imprints. ISBN978-1848880610.[page needed]
^Geschiere, Peter (1997). The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Translated by Peter Geschiere and Janet Roitman. University of Virginia Press. p. 13. ISBN0813917034.
^ Jump up to:abcBerger, Helen A., ed. (2005). Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0812219715.
^Kilpatrick, Alan (1998). The Night Has a Naked Soul – Witchcraft and Sorcery Among the Western Cherokee. Syracuse University Press.
^Geertz, Armin W. (Summer 2011). "Hopi Indian Witchcraft and Healing: On Good, Evil, and Gossip". American Indian Quarterly. 35 (3): 372–393. doi:10.1353/aiq.2011.a447052. ISSN0095-182X. OCLC659388380. PMID22069814. To the Hopis, witches or evil-hearted persons deliberately try to destroy social harmony by sowing discontent, doubt, and criticism through evil gossip as well as by actively combating medicine men. ... Admitting [he practiced witchcraft] could cost him his life and occult power
^Simmons, Marc (1980). Witchcraft in the Southwest: Spanish and Indian Supernaturalism on the Rio Grande. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN978-0803291164.
^Wall, Leon and William Morgan, Navajo-English Dictionary. Hippocrene Books, New York, 1998. ISBN0781802474.
^Young, Eric Van; Cervantes, Fernando; Mills, Kenneth (November 1996). "The Devil in the New World: The Impact of Diabolism in New Spain". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 76 (4): 789. doi:10.2307/2517981. JSTOR2517981.
Abusch, Tzvi (2002). Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature. Brill Styx. ISBN978-90-04-12387-8.
Adler, Margot (2006). Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. New York: Penguin Books. OCLC515560.
Ankarloo, Bengt; Clark, Stuart (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Philadelphia Press. ISBN978-0-8264-8606-6.
Levack, Brian (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America. Oxford University Press.
Pócs, É. (1999). Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age. Hungary: Central European University Press. ISBN978-963-9116-19-1.
Reiner, E. (1995). Astral Magic in Babylonia. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN978-0-87169-854-4.
Epstein, I. (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide. Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-05559-1.
Ginzburg, Carlo (2004) [1989]. Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal. University of Chicago Press. ISBN978-0-226-29693-7.
Hutton, R. (2006). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN978-1-85285-555-0.
Kent, Elizabeth (2005). "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England". History Workshop. 60: 69–92. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbi034.
Lima, R. (2005). Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and Drama. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN978-0-8131-2362-2.
Rasbold, K. (2019). Crossroads of Conjure: The Roots and Practices of Granny Magic, Hoodoo, Brujería, and Curanderismo. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN978-0-7387-5824-4.
Ruickbie, Leo (2004). Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History. London: Robert Hale. ISBN978-0-7090-7567-7.
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around the five points creates a similar symbol referred to as the pentacle,[1] which is used widely by Wiccans and in paganism, or as a sign of life and connections. The word "pentagram" refers only to the five-pointed star, not the surrounding circle of a pentacle.
The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon),[2] from πέντε (pente), "five" + γραμμή (grammē), "line".[3] The word pentagram refers to just the star and the word pentacle refers to the star within a circle, although there is some overlap in usage.[4] The word pentalpha is a 17th-century revival of a post-classical Greek name of the shape.[5]
Early pentagrams have been found on Sumerian pottery from Ur c. 3500 BCE, and the five-pointed star was at various times the symbol of Ishtar or Marduk.[6][7]
A Pythagorean "Hugieia Pentagram"[8]A right-handed interlaced pentagram, popular with Wiccans and some other neo-pagans. The Flag of Morocco often bears the left-handed version.
The pentagram was known to the ancient Greeks, with a depiction on a vase possibly dating back to the 7th century BCE.[10]Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BCE and used the pentagram as a symbol of mutual recognition, of wellbeing, and to recognize good deeds and charity.[11]
From around 300–150 BCE the pentagram stood as the symbol of Jerusalem, marked by the 5 Hebrew letters ירשלם spelling its name.[12]
In Neoplatonism, the pentagram was said to have been used as a symbol or sign of recognition by the Pythagoreans, who called the pentagram ὑγιείαhugieia "health"[13]
The pentagram was used in ancient times as a Christian symbol for the five senses,[14] or of the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram plays an important symbolic role in the 14th-century English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which the symbol decorates the shield of the hero, Gawain. The unnamed poet credits the symbol's origin to King Solomon, and explains that each of the five interconnected points represents a virtue tied to a group of five: Gawain is perfect in his five senses and five fingers, faithful to the Five Wounds of Christ, takes courage from the five joys that Mary had of Jesus, and exemplifies the five virtues of knighthood,[15] which are generosity, friendship, chastity, chivalry, and piety.[16]
The North rose of Amiens Cathedral (built in the 13th century) exhibits a pentagram-based motif. Some sources interpret the unusual downward-pointing star as symbolizing the Holy Spirit descending on people.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and others perpetuated the popularity of the pentagram as a magic symbol, attributing the five neoplatonic elements to the five points, in typical Renaissance fashion.
By the mid-19th century, a further distinction had developed amongst occultists regarding the pentagram's orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted spirit presiding over the four elements of matter, and was essentially "good". However, the influential but controversial writer Éliphas Lévi, known for believing that magic was a real science, had called it evil whenever the symbol appeared the other way up:
"A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates."[17]
"The flaming star, which, when turned upside down, is the heirolgyphic [sic] sign of the goat of black magic, whose head may be drawn in the star, the two horns at the top, the ears to the right and left, the beard at the bottom. It is a sign of antagonism and fatality. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns."[18]
"Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result."[19]
The apotropaic (protective) use in German folklore of the pentagram symbol (called Drudenfuss in German) is referred to by Goethe in Faust (1808), where a pentagram prevents Mephistopheles from leaving a room (but did not prevent him from entering by the same way, as the outward pointing corner of the diagram happened to be imperfectly drawn):
Also protective is the use in Icelandic folklore of a gestured or carved rather than painted pentagram (called smèrhnút in Icelandic), according to 19th century folklorist Jón Árnason:[21]
A butter that comes from the fake vomit is called a fake butter; it looks like something else; but if one makes a sign of a cross over it, or carves a cross on it, or a figure called a buttermilk-knot,* it all explodes into small pieces and becomes like a grain of dross, so that nothing remains of it, except only particles, or it subsides like foam. Therefore it seems more prudent, if a person is offered a horrible butter to eat, or as a fee,[22] to make either mark on it, because a fake butter cannot withstand either a cross mark or a butter-knot.
Based on Renaissance-era occultism, the pentagram found its way into the symbolism of modern occultists. Its major use is a continuation of the ancient Babylonian use of the pentagram as an apotropaic charm to protect against evil forces.[23] Éliphas Lévi claimed that "The Pentagram expresses the mind's domination over the elements and it is by this sign that we bind the demons of the air, the spirits of fire, the spectres of water, and the ghosts of earth."[24] In this spirit, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn developed the use of the pentagram in the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, which is still used to this day by those who practice Golden Dawn-type magic.
Aleister Crowley made use of the pentagram in the system of magick used in Thelema: an adverse or inverted pentagram represents the descent of spirit into matter, according to the interpretation of Lon Milo DuQuette.[25] Crowley contradicted his old comrades in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who, following Levi, considered this orientation of the symbol evil and associated it with the triumph of matter over spirit.
The five-pointed star is a symbol of the Baháʼí Faith.[26][27] In the Baháʼí Faith, the star is known as the Haykal (Arabic: "temple"), and it was initiated and established by the Báb. The Báb and Bahá'u'lláh wrote various works in the form of a pentagram.[28][29]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is theorized to have begun using both upright and inverted five-pointed stars in Temple architecture, dating from the Nauvoo Illinois Temple dedicated on 30 April 1846.[30] Other temples decorated with five-pointed stars in both orientations include the Salt Lake Temple and the Logan Utah Temple. These usages come from the symbolism found in Revelation chapter 12: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."[31]
Because of a perceived association with Satanism and occultism, many United States schools in the late 1990s sought to prevent students from displaying the pentagram on clothing or jewelry.[32] In public schools, such actions by administrators were determined in 2000 to be in violation of students' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.[33]
The encircled pentagram (referred to as a pentacle by the plaintiffs) was added to the list of 38 approved religious symbols to be placed on the tombstones of fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on 24 April 2007. The decision was made following ten applications from families of fallen soldiers who practiced Wicca. The government paid the families US$225,000 to settle their pending lawsuits.[34][35]
The inverted pentagram is broadly used in Satanism, sometimes depicted with the goat's head of Baphomet, as popularized by the Church of Satan since 1968. LaVeyan Satanists pair the goat head with Hebrew letters at the five points of the pentagram to form the Sigil of Baphomet. The Baphomet sigil was adapted for the Joy of Satan Ministries logo, using cuneiform characters at the five points of the pentagram, reflecting the shape's earliest use in Sumeria. The inverted pentagram also appears in The Satanic Temple logo, with an alternative depiction of Baphomet's head. Other depictions of the Satanic goat's head resemble the inverted pentagram without its explicit outline.
The Order of the Eastern Star, an organization (established 1850) associated with Freemasonry, uses a pentagram as its symbol, with the five isosceles triangles of the points colored blue, yellow, white, green, and red. In most Grand Chapters the pentagram is used pointing down, but in a few, it is pointing up. Grand Chapter officers often have a pentagon inscribed around the star[38](the emblem shown here is from the Prince Hall Association).
The pentagram is the simplest regularstar polygon. The pentagram contains ten points (the five points of the star, and the five vertices of the inner pentagon) and fifteen line segments. It is represented by the Schläfli symbol {5/2}. Like a regular pentagon, and a regular pentagon with a pentagram constructed inside it, the regular pentagram has as its symmetry group the dihedral group of order 10.
It can be seen as a net of a pentagonal pyramid although with isosceles triangles.
The pentagram can be constructed by connecting alternate vertices of a pentagon; see details of the construction. It can also be constructed as a stellation of a pentagon, by extending the edges of a pentagon until the lines intersect.
A regular pentagram colored to distinguish its line segments of different lengths. The four lengths are in golden ratio to one another.
The golden ratio, φ = (1 + √5) / 2 ≈ 1.618, satisfying:
plays an important role in regular pentagons and pentagrams. Each intersection of edges sections the edges in the golden ratio: the ratio of the length of the edge to the longer segment is φ, as is the length of the longer segment to the shorter. Also, the ratio of the length of the shorter segment to the segment bounded by the two intersecting edges (a side of the pentagon in the pentagram's center) is φ. As the four-color illustration shows:
The pentagram includes ten isosceles triangles: five acute and five obtuse isosceles triangles. In all of them, the ratio of the longer side to the shorter side is φ. The acute triangles are golden triangles. The obtuse isosceles triangle highlighted via the colored lines in the illustration is a golden gnomon.
As a result, in an isosceles triangle with one or two angles of 36°, the longer of the two side lengths is φ times that of the shorter of the two, both in the case of the acute as in the case of the obtuse triangle.
A pentagram can be drawn as a star polygon on a sphere, composed of five great circle arcs, whose all internal angles are right angles. This shape was described by John Napier in his 1614 book Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio (Description of the wonderful rule of logarithms) along with rules that link the values of trigonometric functions of five parts of a right spherical triangle (two angles and three sides). It was studied later by Carl Friedrich Gauss.
The pentagram of Venus is the apparent path of the planetVenus as observed from Earth. Successive inferior conjunctions of Venus repeat with an orbital resonance of approximately 13:8—that is, Venus orbits the Sun approximately 13 times for every eight orbits of Earth—shifting 144° at each inferior conjunction.[40] The tips of the five loops at the center of the figure have the same geometric relationship to one another as the five vertices, or points, of a pentagram, and each group of five intersectionsequidistant from the figure's center have the same geometric relationship.
^πεντάγραμμον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus; a noun form of adjectival πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines"
^πέντε, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus; Satan all 3 names mentioned before daylight full γραμμή, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
^this usage is borne out by the Oxford English Dictionary, although that work specifies that a circumscription makes the form of a five-pointed star and its etymon post-classical Latin pentaculum [...] A pentagram, esp. one enclosed in a circle; a talisman or magical symbol in the shape of or inscribed with a pentagram. Also, in extended use: any similar magical symbol (freq. applied to a hexagram formed by two intersecting or interlaced equilateral triangles)."
^πένταλφα, "five Alphas", interpreting the shape as five Α shapes overlapping at 72-degree angles.
^Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis (1968). Amulets and Talismans. p. 433.
^Allman, G. J., Greek Geometry From Thales to Euclid, part I (1877), in Hermathena 3.5, pp. 183, 197, citing Iamblichusand the Scholiast on Aristophanes. The pentagram was said to have been so called from Pythagoras himself having written the letters Υ, Γ, Ι, Θ (= /ei/), Α on its vertices.
^Christian Symbols Ancient and Modern, Child, Heather and Dorothy Colles. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, ISBN0-7135-1960-6.
^Morgan, Gerald (1979). "The Significance of the Pentangle Symbolism in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"". The Modern Language Review. 74 (4): 769–790. doi:10.2307/3728227. JSTOR3728227.
^Lévi, Éliphas (2002) [1939 (translated), 1859 (first published)]. The Key of the Mysteries [la Clef des grands mystères suivant Hénoch, Abraham, Hermès Trismégiste et Salomon]. Trans. by Aleister Crowley. Boston: Weiser. p. 69. OCLC49053462.
^Árnason, Jón (1862). "Töfrabrogð [Magic trick]". Íslenzkar Þjoðsögur og Æfintýri [Icelandic Folktales and Legends] (in Icelandic). Vol. 1. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrich's Bookstore. p. 432. Smèr það, er verður af tilberaspýunni, er kallað tilberasmèr; er það útlits sem annað smèr; en gjöri maður krossmark yfir því, eða risti á það kross, eða mynd þá, er smèrhnútur heitir,* springur það alt í smámola og verður eins og draflakyrníngur, svo ekki sèst eptir af því, nema agnir einar, eða það hjaðnar niður sem froða. Þykir það því varlegra, ef manni er boðið óhrjálegt smèr að borða, eða í gjöld, að gjóra annaðhvort þetta mark á það, því tilberasmèr þolir hvorki krossmark né smjörhnút. / * Smèrhnútur er svo í lögun:
^Gravrand, Henry (1990). La civilisation Sereer, Volume II: Pangool. Nouvelles éditions Africaines du Sénégal (in French). Dakar, Senegal. p. 20. ISBN2-7236-1055-1.
^Madiya, Clémentine Faïk-Nzuji (1996). Tracing Memory: A Glossary of Graphic Signs and Symbols in African Art and Culture. Mercury series, no. 71. Hull, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. pp. 27, 155. ISBN0-660-15965-1.
Becker, Udo (1994). "Pentagram". The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. Translated by Garmer, Lance W. New York City: Continuum Books. pp. 230ff. ISBN978-0-8264-0644-6.
Conway, John Horton; Burgiel, Heidi; Goodman-Strauss, Chaim (April 2008). "Chapter 26, Higher Still: Regular Star-Polytopes". The Symmetries of Things. Wellesley, Massachusetts: A. K. Peters. p. 404. ISBN978-1-56881-220-5.
Ferguson, George Wells (1966) [1954]. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 59. OCLC65081051.
Grünbaum, Branko (1994). "Polyhedra with Hollow Faces". In Bisztriczky, T.; McMullen, P.; Schneider, A.; Weiss, A. Ivić (eds.). Polytopes: Abstract, Convex and Computational. NATO ASI Series C: Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Vol. 440. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. pp. 43–70. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-0924-6_3. ISBN978-94-010-4398-4.
This is a subject in which some form mind of control might exist in White Magic and Black Magic traditons. However, the claims hereseem to come from more "respectable" sources of data/ RS
Inpsychology,controlis a person's ability or perception of their ability toaffect themselves, others, their conditions, their environment or some other circumstance. Control over oneself or others can extend to the regulation ofemotions,thoughts,actions,impulses,memory,attentionorexperiences. There are several types of control, including:
Perceived control (a person's perception of their own control and abilities to achieve outcomes)
Desired control (the amount of control one seeks within a relationship or other circumstance)
Cognitive control (the ability to select one's thoughts and actions)
Emotional control (the ability to regulate one's feelings or attitudes toward something)
Motivational control (one's ability to act on prescribed behaviors)
Inhibitory control (the ability to inhibit thoughts or actions in favor of others)
Social control (selecting one's environment for personal benefit)
Ego control (the attempt to regulate impulses or attention processes)
Effortful control (the ability to regulate how much effort one invests into a goal)
Perceived control in psychology is a "person's belief that [they are] capable of obtaining desired outcomes, avoiding undesired outcomes, and achieving goals." High perceived control is often associated with better health, relationships, and adjustment. Strategies for restoring perceived control are called 'compensatory control strategies'.[1] One's perception of perceived control is influenced by the past and future as well as what the desired outcome of an event may be. Perceived control is often associated with the term locus of control.[2] Perceived control can be affected by two processes: primary and secondary control. Primary control consists of attempting to change the environment to align with one's own wishes, whereas secondary perceived refers to the act of attempting to gain control by changing one's wishes to reflect what exists or is achievable within the environment.[3][4]
Desired control is the degree of influence that an individual desires over any subject, circumstance, or relationship.[5] This can apply to romantic, non-romantic, professional, and sales contexts.[6] Desired control is often associated with perceived control, and studies focused on individuals with a lower desire for control show a correlation with greater psychological problems.[5]
Cognitive control is "the ability to control one's thoughts and actions."[citation needed] It is also known as controlled processing, executive attention, and supervisory attention. Controlled behaviors - behaviors over which one has cognitive control - are guided by maintenance, updating, and representing task goals, and inhibiting information irrelevant to the task goal.[7] Cognitive control is often developed through reinforcement as well as learning from previous experiences. Increased cognitive control allows individuals to have increased flexibility in their ability to choose between conflicting stimuli.[8] Cognitive control is commonly tested using the Stroop color-word task as well as the Eriksen flanker task.[9]
There are certain quirks of cognitive control, such as ironic rebound, in which attempts to keep a particular thought out of consciousness result in that thought becoming increasingly prevalent. In social psychology experiments conducted by Daniel M. Wegner, Ralph Erber and R.E. Bowman, male and female subjects were instructed to complete some sentences related to sexism.[10] Some participants were given guidance to avoid being sexist, whereas some were not given such instructions.[10] Additionally, for some sentence completions, time pressure was either applied by asking for immediate responses or reduced by giving subjects ten seconds to respond.[10] Under low-pressure conditions with guidance to avoid being sexist, the number of sexist completions were lower than the much higher number of sexist completions that resulted when subjects were under time pressure along with guidance to avoid being sexist.[10] Furthermore, these results were consistent among both male and female subjects.[10] This highlights the effect of ironic rebound: when the individuals attempted not to be sexist under a significant time constraint, their resulting actions were counter to their attempts at cognitive control.[10]
Emotional control is a term from literature on self-regulatorypsychology and refers to "the ability to self-manage or regulate attitudes and feelings that directly affect participant receptiveness to, and implementation of, training activities."[11] Emotional control is often referred to as emotional regulation and is the process the brain undergoes to regulate and control emotional responses throughout the day.[12] Emotional control manages and balances the physiological as well as psychological response to an emotion.[13] The opposite of emotion regulation is emotional dysregulation which occurs when problems arise in the emotional control process that result in the inability to process emotions in a healthy manner.[12] Emotional control contains several emotional regulation strategies including distraction, cognitive reappraisal, and emotional action control.[13]
Motivational control is "the self-regulatory mechanism by which individuals are able to act on prescribed behaviors to implement ... activities."[citation needed] In other words, it is the capability of an individual to act on intentional reasoning, rather than out of emotion or impulse. For example, a student may study for an hour each morning for two months before a test, despite not enjoying studying, in order to improve their results.[11]
Inhibitory control (IC) is another type of self-regulation: "the ability to inhibit prepotent thoughts or actions flexibly, often in favor of a subdominant action, typically in goal-directed behavior".[14] There are two types of inhibitory control: hot and cold. Hot IC involves activities or tasks related to emotional regulation, and cold IC involves abstract activities or tasks. A lack of inhibitory control can lead to difficulties in motor, attentional, and behavioral control. Inhibitory control is also involved in the process of helping humans correct, react, and improve social behavior.[15]
In learning psychology, social control refers to "an individual's skills in engaging the social environment in ways that help to support and reinforce his or her learning activities."[11] Social control can be influenced by several factors including the control that society places on individual actions and behaviors[16] as well as the control an individual can exert over their own behaviors in public.[17] The definition of social control has changed over time to include the social control groups of people have in addition to individuals.[17]
'Ego control' describes the efforts of an individual to control "thoughts, emotions, impulses or appetites... task performances [and] attentional processes."[18] Failure of ego control is seen as a central problem in individuals who have substance abuse disorders.
In leadership psychology, situational control is "the degree to which the situation provides the leader with potential influence over the group's behavior".[19] Situational favourableness or situational control describes a person's ability to persuade or control the group situation, or the degree in which the person(s) is able to influence the behavior(s) of group members to face a current situation.[20] The qualities, characteristics, and skills of a leader are required to persuade a group situation by a large extent by the demands of the situation.[21] Several more factors can be placed upon situational control, such as leadership style and commitment and competitiveness of the leader.
Effortful control is a type of self-regulation. It is a broader construct than inhibitory control, and encompasses working memory and attention-shifting.[22] Effortful control works by allowing individuals the ability to start or stop behaviors they may or may not want to perform through attention management.[23] Effortful control is theorized to be involved in the process of problem solving as well as behavior regulation due to the top-down processing involved.[24] Effortful control often interacts with and is central in other forms of control such as emotional control and inhibitory control.[24]
^ Jump up to:abAmoura, Camille; Berjot, Sophie; Gillet, Nicolas; Altintas, Emin (June 2014). "Desire for control, perception of control: their impact on autonomous motivation and psychological adjustment". Motivation and Emotion. 38 (3): 323–335. doi:10.1007/s11031-013-9379-9. ISSN0146-7239. S2CID23469079.
^Mullins, Bachrach, Rapp, Grewal, and Beitelspacher. (2015). You don't always get what you want, and you don't always want what you get: An examination of control–desire for control congruence in transactional relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 100, No. 4, 1073-1088. [1]
^Reimer, Radvansky, Lorsbach and Armendarez. (2015). "Event Structure and Cognitive Control". Journal of Experimental Psychology.Vol. 41, No. 5, 1374-1387
^ Jump up to:abcRobbins, Oh, Le and Button. (2009). "Intervention Effects on College Performance and Retention as Mediated by Motivational, Emotional, and Social Control Factors: Integrated Meta-Analytic Path Analysis." Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 94, No. 5, 1163-1184
^ Jump up to:abCole, Pamela M.; Michel, Margaret K.; Teti, Laureen O'Donnell (1994). "The Development of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation: A Clinical Perspective". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 59 (2/3): 73–100. doi:10.2307/1166139. JSTOR1166139. PMID7984169.
^Allan, Hume, Allan, Farrington and Lonigan. (2014). "Relations Between inhibitory Control and the Development of Academic Skills in Preschool and Kindergarten: A Meta-Analysis".Developmental Psychology. Vol. 50, No. 10, 2368.
^ Jump up to:ab"CogniFit". Inhibition or inhibitory control- Cognitive Ability. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
^Gottdiener, Murawski and Kucharski. (2008). "Using the Delay Discounting Task to test for failures in ego control in substance abusers."Psychoanalytic PsychologyVol. 25, 3, 533-549
^Fiedler, F.E. (1971). "Validation and extension of the contingency model of leadership effectiveness: A review of empirical findings. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 129
^Allan, Hume, Allan, Farrington and Lonigan. (2014). "Relations Between inhibitory Control and the Development of Academic Skills in Preschool and Kindergarten: A Meta-Analysis".Developmental Psychology. Vol. 50, No. 10, 2368-2379.
One of the items in our postponed exhibition Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word is a tiny little codex from sixteenth-century Italy. It is entitled The Tree of Knowledge (Ets ha-Da’at) and contains a collection of some 125 magic spells for all sorts of purposes: curses, healing potions, love charms, amulets. There are a good number of such magical-medical manuscripts in the Hebrew collection, but this volume is special for at least two reasons. First, because of its neat layout and accuracy in its execution. Secondly, because it has an introduction in which Elisha the author tells the story of how he collected these spells.
Title page of The Tree of Knowledge by Elisha ben Gad of Ancona. (Safed, 1535-1536 (Or 12362, f. 2r)).
According to his introduction, Elisha is overcome with a great thirst for knowledge, and he starts on a journey to satisfy it. He is wandering from town to town until he arrives in Venice, the great city full of wise and knowledgeable sages. There, thanks to God’s mercy, he wins the trust of Rabbi Judah Alkabets, and gains access to the rabbi’s library. He soon discovers that the Rabbi’s collection contains precious kabbalistic volumes “that emerged for fame and praise, and all written with the finger [of God – Ex. 31:18].” So he swears in his heart that he will not leave the library until he has collected all its secrets. As he is looking through the books, he notices “a book hidden and sealed, in a chest within another chest covered with a cloth and sealed.” When he opens this hidden book, he finds in it all sorts of magic spells, and decides to copy them. After the death of Judah Alkabetz, Elisha leaves Venice and continues his journey, and eventually arrives in Safed, in the Land of Israel. He spends there a long time before he gains the trust of the sages of Safed, but at the end they share with him their secret wisdom. His book, which he calls the Tree of Knowledge, is based on the secrets he acquired in Venice and in Safed.
After relating his painstaking efforts to obtain such precious hidden knowledge, Elisha explains the way he organized the collected material and structured his book. He provides a table of contents for the users to facilitate their access to the spells they are looking for. The table of contents is divided into four sections:
1. Spells that use divine names;
2. Spells that use names of the “Spirit of Impurity” and those of the “Other Side” (that is, references to evil powers);
3. Medicines based on nature and experiment;
4. All the rest.
So what kind of secret knowledge did Elisha ben Gad acquire in Venice and Safed? Let’s see a couple of spells from each section. Oh, it is so difficult to choose!
The First Section of the Tree of Knowledge. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 5r))
Among the 52 spells using divine names contained in the first section, there are many amulets providing protection against illnesses like nose bleed, fever, and ear ache; spells for the enhancing intellectual capabilities such as facilitating learning, understanding, or improving memory; and various other spells.
An amulet for fever. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 11r))
The very first entry is an amulet against fever:
Av avr avra avrak avraka avrakal avrakala avrakal avraka avrak avra avr av – “The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.” (Num. 11:2). Cure from heavens for all sorts of fever and consumption and fire for such and such [here to put the name of the specific person]. Amen a[men] a[men] selah.
It is easy to discover the well-known magic word “abracadabra” in this spell. It appears first in a second-century Latin medical poem by the physician Quintus Serenus Sammonicus. The origin of this word is not clear. It may come from Aramaic avra ke-davra, meaning “I create as I speak”, but there are several other theories around.
A spell for shortening one’s journey (no. 39). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 27r))
Spell no. 39 is for shortening a long road, and goes like this:
Shortening the road: write on a piece of kosher parchment made of deer and sew it into your robe. When you see the countenance of the town, mention these names and say this: “I adjure you, Kaptsiel, Malakhel, shorten for me the road and the country as you shortened them for Abraham. Cafefiel – and in the name of the Lord of the whole earth. Amen S[ela]”
The second section of the Tree of Knowledge. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 7v))
The second section is supposed to contain spells that use the names of evil spirits “the spirit of Impurity and the Other Side”, as Elisha puts it. To be honest, I did not always find such names in the charms of this section, though it may just be due to my limited knowledge and experience of the Other Side. Still, the section contains many useful spells – 19 altogether –, among others some that make you invisible, help you find scorpions and snakes, make you “snake-proof” or “sword-proof”, and quite a few that help you catch thieves. Here is an example of the latter (no. 80):
To find the thief write on a piece of kosher parchment these names [see words at the end of the spell], and hang them around the neck of a black rooster. Then circle around the suspects with the rooster, and it will jump on the head of the thief. And this has been tested.
Kematin kanit kukeiri ve-hikani yazaf
A spell for identifying a thief (no. 80). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 37r))
While I was not able to identify these magical words at all – could some of them be names of evil spirits? – I had better luck with spell no. 97 for burns by fire:
A wonderful incantation, tried and tested many times. For small and big burns. With these words complete recovery without pain! Say these names [i.e. the incantation] seven times:
Agrifuk agrifar agripyri chi vol tu fer di pyro nocesti di acaro fosti generato, e elo fonti fosti portato, all'acqua fosti gettato, non fossi far più male qua (?) chi fai la!
And then blow on the burn with the breath of your mouth and repeat again the incantation seven more times, and the fire will not damage him.
As you can see, the actual incantation addressing Fire itself is in Judeo-Italian, that is, Italian written in Hebrew characters, and it reads something like this:
"Agrifuk agrifar agripyri whom did you want to hurt with fire? You were generated from an acarus [probably from Greek akarḗs, meaning “tiny”), you were brought forth from such a source, [and] you were thrown into the water. You cannot do any more harm...!"[1]
A spell for burns (no. 97). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 41r))
The third section of the Tree of Knowledge. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 8v))
Elisha tells us that in the third section of his work we can find “remedies based on nature and experiment”. Among these 31 remedies, there are a few for fevers, suffering from worms, cancelling witchcraft, complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, and so on. He also discusses the magical properties of snake skin. It seems, however, that quite a few of the remedies listed here are not based on nature but use some sort of incantation or magic words instead.
A spell for a woman who does not have milk (no. 104). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 42v))
Remedy no. 104 is a good example of the latter. It is a spell for a woman who does not have milk. The title of the spell is inscribed in a ribbon and it is illustrated with the bust of a naked woman.
To bring milk to the woman write the name of the woman or her brother or her son [on a piece of parchment?], and write on the woman’s right breast: AV SU SAS, and on her left breast write: AV HU SIA, and she will immediately have milk in abundance, and it will spill onto the ground as water.
Spells using snake skin (no. 116). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 45r))
Entry 116 is about the magical qualities of snakeskin, and according to the title, this spell is based on “the words of Solomon the physician of Tulitul” (Tulitula is the Arabic name of Toledo). Elisha says that he read in an Arabic book that if you burn the skin of a snake during a certain period in March, you can use the ashes of the skin for all sorts of purposes. Then he lists the 12 magical qualities of snakeskin based on important Arabic magic spell books (number 12 is missing). Here are some of the best ones:
Text about the magical qualities of snake skin (no. 116). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, ff. 45v-46r))
No. 1 If you sprinkle some of the dust into your eyes, you will see but you will not be seen (invisibility!);
No. 6. If you hold some of the dust in your hand when you appear before a king or princes, and they will heed your words;
No. 10. If you put some of the dust into a plate and leave it on the table, if the elixir of death, or “poison weed and wormwood” [Deut. 29:17] gets there, the dust will scatter on the table and [then you would know to] avoid eating there.
The fourth section of the Tree of Knowledge. (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536). (Or 12362, f. 10r))
Section four is the shortest with its 17 items. It has several love spells and potions, spells to make a positive impression on rulers, on how to gain someone’s trust, and how to defeat your opponents. No. 58 is a spell that helps you to make a reluctant person answer your questions:
If you ask a question and they do not give you a reply, wash your hands in fresh water, and then write on your palm these words and characters. Then put your palm on the palm of the fellow, and ask your question. And this is what you have to write:
Here you can see a drawing of a palm with a same word written three times, and two characters from a cryptic alphabet. Two ribbons coming out from behind the palm. The inscription in the upper one contains further instructions:
Write this with a new pen.
The ribbon at the base of the hand contains the title of the next entry: no. 59, a spell about how to win a court case:
It is triedandtested many times. How to defeat your opponent in court even if he is a king. Take the tongue of a hoopoe and hang it on your right side close to the heart at the time when you go to speak with him.
Spells for extracting an answer and defeating the opponent at court (nos. 58 and 59). (Elisha ben Gad of Ancona, Tree of Knowledge (Safed, 1535-1536.) (Or 12362, f. 32r))
You can certainly see even from this small selection of spells how valuable the Tree of Knowledge is! Elisha’s long journey from Italy to Galilee through the Mediterranean, his painstaking efforts to acquire hidden and ancient knowledge, were not in vain. And you, dear reader, are only one click away from all this treasure!
Disclaimer: We do not take responsibility for the endurance of these spells. Even strong magic can lose or modify its power over the centuries! Please, do not blame us if you turn into a frog. Try these spells only at your own risk.
Zsofi Buda, former Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project Cataloguer, Asian and African Collections
Further readings:
Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition, ed. Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, and Shaul Shaked. Leiden: Brill, 2011. (YD.2011.a.4537)
Ortal-Paz, Saar. Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2017. (OIC 133.4)
Harari, Yuval. “Magical Paratexts: Ms. London, The British Library Or. 12362 (Ets ha-Da‘at) as a Test Case.” Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 42 (2018): 237-268. [Hebrew] (WZOR.1998.a.24)
Harari, Yuval. “‘Practical Kabbalah’ and the Jewish Tradition of Magic.” Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 19 (2019): 38-82. (ZA.9.a.2272)
[1] Thank you to Giulia Baronti for helping me with the translation!
The occult (from Latin: occultus, lit.'hidden' or 'secret') is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysticism. It can also refer to paranormal ideas such as extra-sensory perception and parapsychology.
Use of the term as a nominalized adjective ('the occult') has developed especially since the late twentieth century. In that same period, occult and culture were combined to form the neologismocculture.
The occult (from the Latin word occultus; lit. 'clandestine', 'hidden', 'secret') is "knowledge of the hidden".[4] In common usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable",[5] usually referred to as science. The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult,[6] in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. The term occult sciences was used in the 16th century to refer to astrology, alchemy, and natural magic.
The earliest known usage of the term occultism is in the French language, as l'occultisme. In this form it appears in A. de Lestrange's article that was published in Dictionnaire des mots nouveaux ("Dictionary of new words") by Jean-Baptiste Richard de Randonvilliers [fr] in 1842. However, it was not related, at this point, to the notion of Ésotérisme chrétien, as has been claimed by Hanegraaff,[7] but to describe a political "system of occulticity" that was directed against priests and aristocrats.[8]
In 1853, the Freemasonic author Jean-Marie Ragon had already used occultisme in his popular work Maçonnerie occulte, relating it to earlier practices that, since the Renaissance, had been termed "occult sciences" or "occult philosophy", but also to the recent socialist teachings of Charles Fourier.[9] The French esotericist Éliphas Lévi then used the term in his influential book on ritual magic, Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, first published in 1856.[10] Lévi was familiar with that work and might have borrowed the term from there. In any case, Lévi also claimed to be a representative of an older tradition of occult science or occult philosophy.[11] It was from his usage of the term occultisme that it gained wider usage;[12] according to Faivre, Lévi was "the principal exponent of esotericism in Europe and the United States" at that time.[13] The term occultism emerged in 19th-century France, where it came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to Éliphas Lévi and Papus,
The earliest use of the term occultism in the English language appears to be in "A Few Questions to 'Hiraf'", an 1875 article by Helena Blavatsky, a Russian émigré living in the United States who founded the religion of Theosophy. The article was published in the American Spiritualist magazine, Spiritual Scientist.[14]
Various twentieth-century writers on the subject used the term occultism in different ways. Some writers, such as the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno in his "Theses Against Occultism", employed the term as a broad synonym for irrationality.[15] In his 1950 book L'occultisme, Robert Amadou [fr] used the term as a synonym for esotericism,[16] an approach that the later scholar of esotericism Marco Pasi suggested left the term superfluous.[15] Unlike Amadou, other writers saw occultism and esotericism as different, albeit related, phenomena. In the 1970s, the sociologist Edward A. Tiryakian distinguished between occultism, which he used in reference to practices, techniques, and procedures, and esotericism, which he defined as the religious or philosophical belief systems on which such practices are based.[16] This division was initially adopted by the early academic scholar of esotericism, Antoine Faivre, although he later abandoned it;[10] it has been rejected by most scholars who study esotericism.[15]
By the 21st century the term was commonly employed – including by academic scholars of esotericism – to refer to a range of esoteric currents that developed in the mid-19th century and their descendants. Occultism is thus often used to categorise such esoteric traditions as Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and New Age.
A different division was used by the Traditionalist author René Guénon, who used esotericism to describe what he believed was the Traditionalist, inner teaching at the heart of most religions, while occultism was used pejoratively to describe new religions and movements that he disapproved of, such as Spiritualism, Theosophy, and various secret societies.[17] Guénon's use of this terminology was adopted by later writers like Serge Hutin and Luc Benoist.[18] As noted by Hanegraaff, Guénon's use of these terms are rooted in his Traditionalist beliefs and "cannot be accepted as scholarly valid".[18]
The term occultism derives from the older term occult, much as the term esotericism derives from the older term esoteric.[11] However, the historian of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff stated that it was important to distinguish between the meanings of the term occult and occultism.[19] Occultism is not a homogenous movement and is widely diverse.[13]
Over the course of its history, the term occultism has been used in various different ways.[20] However, in contemporary uses, occultism commonly refers to forms of esotericism that developed in the nineteenth century and their twentieth-century derivations.[18] In a descriptive sense, it has been used to describe forms of esotericism which developed in nineteenth-century France, especially in the Neo-Martinist environment.[18] According to the historian of esotericism Antoine Faivre, it is with the esotericist Éliphas Lévi that "the occultist current properly so-called" first appears.[13] Other prominent French esotericists involved in developing occultism included Papus, Stanislas de Guaita, Joséphin Péladan, Georges-Albert Puyou de Pouvourville, and Jean Bricaud.[11]
The idea of occult sciences developed in the sixteenth century.[10] The term usually encompassed three practices – astrology, alchemy, and natural magic – although sometimes various forms of divination were also included rather than being subsumed under natural magic.[10] These were grouped together because, according to the Dutch scholar of hermeticismWouter Hanegraaff, "each one of them engaged in a systematic investigation of nature and natural processes, in the context of theoretical frameworks that relied heavily on a belief in occult qualities, virtues or forces."[10] Although there are areas of overlap between these different occult sciences, they are separate and in some cases practitioners of one would reject the others as being illegitimate.[10]
During the Age of Enlightenment, occultism increasingly came to be seen as intrinsically incompatible with the concept of science.[10] From that point on, use of "occult science(s)" implied a conscious polemic against mainstream science.[10] Nevertheless, the philosopher and card game historian Michael Dummett, whose analysis of the historical evidence suggested that fortune-telling and occult interpretations using cards were unknown before the 18th century, said that the term occult science was not misplaced because "people who believe in the possibility of unveiling the future or of exercising supernormal powers do so because the efficacy of the methods they employ coheres with some systematic conception which they hold of the way the universe functions...however flimsy its empirical basis."[21]
In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term "occult science" as a synonym for magic.[22]
Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation; in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality.[23][24]Aether is another such element.[25]Newton's contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through "action at a distance", as occult.[26]
The French esotericist Éliphas Lévi popularised the term "occultism" in the 1850s. His reinterpretation of traditional esoteric ideas has led to him being called the origin of "the occultist current properly so-called".[13]
Unlike older forms of esotericism, occultism does not necessarily reject "scientific progress or modernity".[28] Lévi had stressed the need to solve the conflict between science and religion, something that he believed could be achieved by turning to what he thought was the ancient wisdom found in magic.[29] The French scholar of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre noted that rather than outright accepting "the triumph of scientism", occultists sought "an alternative solution", trying to integrate "scientific progress or modernity" with "a global vision that will serve to make the vacuousness of materialism more apparent".[13] The Dutch scholar of hermeticism Wouter Hanegraaff remarked that occultism was "essentially an attempt to adapt esotericism" to the "disenchanted world", a post-Enlightenment society in which growing scientific discovery had eradicated the "dimension of irreducible mystery" previously present. In doing so, he noted, occultism distanced itself from the "traditional esotericism" which accepted the premise of an "enchanted" world.[30] According to the British historian of Western esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, occultist groups typically seek "proofs and demonstrations by recourse to scientific tests or terminology".[31]
In his work about Lévi, the German historian of religion Julian Strube has argued that the occultist wish for a "synthesis" of religion, science, and philosophy directly resulted from the context of contemporary socialism and progressive Catholicism.[32] Similar to spiritualism, but in declared opposition to it, the emergence of occultism should thus be seen within the context of radical social reform, which was often concerned with establishing new forms of "scientific religion" while at the same time propagating the revival of an ancient tradition of "true religion".[33] Indeed, the emergence of both modern esotericism and socialism in July Monarchy France have been inherently intertwined.[34]
Another feature of occultists is that – unlike earlier esotericists – they often openly distanced themselves from Christianity, in some cases (like that of Crowley) even adopting explicitly anti-Christian stances.[29] This reflected how pervasive the influence of secularisation had been on all areas of European society.[29] In rejecting Christianity, these occultists sometimes turned towards pre-Christian belief systems and embraced forms of Modern Paganism, while others instead took influence from the religions of Asia, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. In various cases, certain occultists did both.[29] Another characteristic of these occultists was the emphasis that they placed on "the spiritual realization of the individual", an idea that would strongly influence the twentieth-century New Age and Human Potential Movement.[29] This spiritual realization was encouraged both through traditional Western 'occult sciences' like alchemy and ceremonial magic, but by the start of the twentieth century had also begun to include practices drawn from non-Western contexts, such as yoga.[29]
Although occultism is distinguished from earlier forms of esotericism, many occultists have also been involved in older esoteric currents. For instance, occultists like François-Charles Barlet [fr] and Rudolf Steiner were also theosophers,[a] adhering to the ideas of the early modern Lutheran thinker Jakob Bohme, and seeking to integrate ideas from Bohmian theosophy and occultism.[35] It has been noted, however, that this distancing from the Theosophical Society should be understood in the light of polemical identity formations among esotericists towards the end of the nineteenth century.[36]
In the 1990s, the Dutch scholar Wouter Hanegraaff put forward a new definition of occultism for scholarly uses.
In the mid-1990s, a new definition of "occultism" was put forth by Wouter Hanegraaff.[37] According to Hanegraaff, the term occultism can be used not only for the nineteenth-century groups which openly self-described using that term but can also be used in reference to "the type of esotericism that they represent".[18]
Seeking to define occultism so that the term would be suitable "as an etic category" for scholars, Hanegraaff devised the following definition: "a category in the study of religions, which comprises "all attempts by esotericists to come to terms with a disenchanted world or, alternatively, by people in general to make sense of esotericism from the perspective of a disenchanted secular world".[38] Hanegraaff noted that this etic usage of the term would be independent of emic usages of the term employed by occultists and other esotericists themselves.[38]
In this definition, occultism covers many esoteric currents that have developed from the mid-nineteenth century onward, including Spiritualism, Theosophy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the New Age.[18] Employing this etic understanding of "occultism", Hanegraaff argued that its development could begin to be seen in the work of the Swedish esotericist Emanuel Swedenborg and in the Mesmerist movement of the eighteenth century, although added that occultism only emerged in "fully-developed form" as Spiritualism, a movement that developed in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century.[30]
Marco Pasi suggested that the use of Hanegraaff's definition might cause confusion by presenting a group of nineteenth-century esotericists who called themselves "occultists" as just one part of a broader category of esotericists whom scholars would call "occultists".[39]
Following these discussions, Julian Strube argued that Lévi and other contemporary authors who would now be regarded as esotericists developed their ideas not against the background of an esoteric tradition in the first place. Rather, Lévi's notion of occultism emerged in the context of highly influential radical socialist movements and widespread progressive, so-called neo-Catholic ideas.[40] This further complicates Hanegraaff's characteristics of occultism, since, throughout the nineteenth century, they apply to these reformist movements rather than to a supposed group of esotericists.[41]
The term occult has also been used as a substantivized adjective as "the occult", a term that has been particularly widely used among journalists and sociologists.[18] This term was popularised by the publication of Colin Wilson's 1971 book The Occult.[18] This term has been used as an "intellectual waste-basket" into which a wide array of beliefs and practices have been placed because they do not fit readily into the categories of religion or science.[18] According to Hanegraaff, "the occult" is a category into which gets placed a range of beliefs from "spirits or fairies to parapsychological experiments, from UFO-abductions to Oriental mysticism, from vampire legends to channelling, and so on".[18]
The neologism occulture used within the industrial music scene of the late twentieth century was probably coined by one of its central figures, the musician and occultist Genesis P-Orridge.[42] The scholar of religion Christopher Partridge used the term in an academic sense, stating that occulture was "the new spiritual environment in the West; the reservoir feeding new spiritual springs; the soil in which new spiritualities are growing".[43]
Recently scholars have offered perspectives on the occult as intertwined with media and technology. Examples include the work of film and media theorist Jeffrey Sconce and religious studies scholar John Durham Peters, both of whom suggest that occult movements historically utilize media and apparatuses as tools to reveal hidden aspects of reality or laws of nature.[44][45]Erik Davis in his book Techgnosis gives an overview of occultism both ancient and modern from the perspective of cybernetics and information technologies.[46] Philosopher Eugene Thacker discusses Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy in his book In The Dust Of This Planet, where he shows how the horror genre utilizes occult themes to reveal hidden realities.[47]
^This theosophy, which is a Christian esoteric tradition adhered to by theosophers, is a distinct movement from Theosophy, the occultist religion adhered to by Theosophists, despite the shared name.
Buchdahl, Gerd (1989). "History of Science and Criteria of Choice". In Stuewer, Roger H. (ed.). Historical and Philosophical Perspectives of Science. Vol. 5. Gordon and Breach. pp. 232ff. ISBN978-2881243509.
Crabb, G. (1927). English synonyms explained, in alphabetical order, copious illustrations and examples drawn from the best writers. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
Davis, Erik (2015). TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information. North Atlantic Press. ISBN978-1583949306.
Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth. ISBN0-7156-1014-7.
Hanegraaff, Wouter (2006). "Occult/Occultism". In Wouter Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 884–889. ISBN978-90-04-15231-1.
Osler, Margaret J.; Farber, Paul Lawrence, eds. (2002). Religion, Science, and Worldview: Essays in Honor of Richard S. Westfall. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-52493-8.
Stone, A. T. (2014). The LCSH Century: One Hundred Years with the Library of Congress Subject Headings System. Taylor & Francis. ISBN978-1-317-95688-4.
Strube, Julian (2016b). Sozialismus, Katholizisimus und Okkultismus im Frankreich des 19. Jahrhunderts - Die Genealogie der Schriften von Eliphas Lévi. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten. Vol. 69. Berlin: De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110478105. ISBN978-3-11-047810-5.
Classen, Albrecht (2017). "Magic in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age: Literature, Science, Religion, Philosophy, Music, and Art. An Introduction". In Classen, Albrecht (ed.). Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time: The Occult in Pre-Modern Sciences, Medicine, Literature, Religion, and Astrology. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Vol. 20. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 1–108. doi:10.1515/9783110557725-001. ISBN9783110556070. ISSN1864-3396.
Forshaw, Peter (2014). "The Occult Middle Ages". In Partridge, Christopher (ed.). The Occult World. London: Routledge. Retrieved 2022-12-13 – via Academia.edu.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2010). "The Beginning of Occultist Kabbalah: Adolphe Franck and Eliphas Levi". Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations. Netherlands: Brill. ISBN978-9004182875.
Kontou, Tatiana; Wilburn, Sarah, eds. (2012). The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN978-0-7546-6912-8.
Partridge, Christopher, ed. (2014). The Occult World. London: Routledge. ISBN978-0415695961.
The aims of the artists below was to try to depict as far as possible the "existence" of spiritual/psychic dimensions..RS
Introduction
The Transcendental Painting Group was formed in Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, between June and October 1938 by Emil Bisttram, Robert Gribbroek, Lawren Harris, Raymond Jonson, William Lumpkins, Florence Miller, Horace Towner Pierce, and Stuart Walker. Agnes Pelton was voted in as a member in absentia and Ed Garman was invited to join the group in 1941. Alfred Morang and Dane Rudhyar, important non-artist members, contributed intellectual theory and criticism to the group.
By 1939, members of the group exhibited at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Later that year, a portion of the group exhibits at the New York World’s Fair. Also in 1939, the group exhibited together at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
In 1940, Lawren Harris returned to his native country of Canada, and Stuart Walker passed away. Important exhibitions featuring a few of the Transcendental Painting Group artists occurred in New York at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (now known as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation) and at the Museum of Modern Art.
The United States entered World War II at the end of 1941. By late 1942, Jonson effectively concluded the Transcendental Painting Group by asking Dane Rudhyar and Lawren Harris to sign the corporate dissolution documents.
Raymond Jonson, Oil No. 6 (Crystal), Oil on canvas, 82.221.0031.
Raymond Jonson (July 18, 1891 – May 10, 1982),[1] was an American-born Modernist painter known for his paintings of the American Southwest. Born Carl Raymond Johnson, he originally signed his paintings C. Raymond Johnson, but later used Raymond Jonson, dropping the first initial and reverting to a more traditional spelling of his last name.[2][3][4]
Jonson organized modernist exhibitions at the Museum of New Mexico. He established the Atalaya Art School, teaching art classes, and founded the Transcendental Painting Group in 1938.[5] Raymond Jonson established the Jonson Gallery at the University of New Mexico in 1950. The gallery later moved to the University of New Mexico Art Museum.
C. Raymond Johnson was born in Chariton, Iowa in 1891, one of six children of Reverend Gustav Johnson and Josephine Abrahamson Johnson.[6][7] The family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1902,[8] where he attended Lincoln High School and the Museum Art School.[9] At twenty, Jonson attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Later, he continued the development of his technical skills at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1913, Jonson was strongly affected by the avant-garde works displayed in the Armory Show, particularly the works of Wassily Kandinsky. His artistic theories were further developed by Kandinsky's book On The Spiritual In Art.[10]
He also taught at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts until 1920. In Nicholas & Helena Roerich, The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists & Peacemakers, Ruth Abrams Drayer writes that Jonson visited the exhibition of Nicholas Roerich in 1921 and then wrote in his diary, "There opened at the Institute the exhibition of the work of Nicholas Roerich. It is glorious. Would that I could express the wonder of it -- I feel that at his best he has accomplished that which all artists hope to do. There are at least six paintings that I believe to be the most spiritual pieces of expression that I have ever seen." Jonson went on to become secretary in Roerich's society Cor Ardens composed of the "fiery, spiritual, radical group of young painters" who shared Roerich's belief that "the only real fraternity among men is the fraternity of beauty as expressed in art."
In 1922, Jonson's life was changed when he visited New Mexico for the first time. The experiences and sights of this short visit to Santa Fe, convinced Jonson to move to New Mexico in 1924 to focus on painting among the southwestern landscapes. In Santa Fe, Jonson started the Atalaya Art School and arranged for a "Modern Wing" in which he mounted monthly exhibitions by modern artists at the New Mexico Museum of Art from 1927-1931.[12] In 1934, Jonson began teaching art at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.[5]
In 1938, Jonson co-founded the Transcendental Painting Group with Emil Bisttram.[5] Drayer writes that Bisttram had previously taught painting at Roerich's Master Institute in New York City for several years. The aim of the Transcendental Painting Group was "to defend, validate and promote abstract art. They sought to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new expressions of space, color, light and design." Other members of the Transcendental Painting Group were Ed Garman, Florence Miller Pierce, Horace Towner Pierce, Agnes Pelton, Stuart Walker, William Lumpkins, and Lawren Harris. The group was forced to disband in 1942 due to World War II.
The Jonson Gallery was established at the University of New Mexico in 1950. While teaching at the University of New Mexico in the early 1950s, Jonson had a profound influence on the Cochiti Pueblo artist Joe Herrera.[13][14] Jonson retired from the University of New Mexico in 1954, but continued to mentor students there, including painter William Conger.[15] Raymond Jonson died in 1982. The Jonson Gallery's collection was moved to the UNM Art Museum in 2010.[16]
^Carney, Charles Henry (1922). "Biography of Gustav Johnson". History of Oregon. Vol. III. Chicago - Portland: The Pioneer Historical Publishing Company.
^"Raymond Johnson [sic], Artist, Is Recipient of High Honors: Former Portland Boy Wins Englewood Prize at Chicago Exposition, Bestowed Upon Painting Entitled 'Winter'". (January 20, 1924). The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), Section 2, p. 2.
^Berlo, Janet C.; Phillips, Ruth B. (1998). Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 219–223.
^Karabenick, Julie. “An Interview with Artist William Conger,” William Conger: Paintings 1958–2008, Chicago: City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2009, p.30.
Below is a message I received yesterday from someone who describes how Gurinder Singh, the current guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), created a highly negative atmosphere in the United Kingdom after he became the successor to Charan Singh, a much-beloved RSSB guru......RS.
..........The message also is filled with praise for Flora Wood, a long-time RSSB initiate, or satsangi, who wrote a book for the organization and was a positive influence in the United Kingdom's RSSB membership.
It doesn't surprise me that Gurinder Singh comes in for such criticism in this message. There's plenty of other evidence that at best, Gurinder's ethics are at odds with how previous RSSB gurus have behaved, and at worst, Gurinder has engaged in financial fraud aimed at enriching himself and his family to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Here's the message. "Sewadars" means volunteers. "Sangat" refers to the RSSB community. "Radha Soami" is a greeting used by RSSB initiates. "Haynes Park" is a large RSSB center in the United Kingdom. The "Dera" refers to the RSSB headquarters in India. "Satsang" is a talk about the RSSB teachings.
......... I submit this to you anonymously.
In 2005 Mrs Flora Wood was asked by the Dera to write a postscript to her 1965 book In 'Search Of The Way' in which she recalled her Indian experiences with The Great Master Baba Sawan Singh, as well as the history of the birth and development of the British Sangat.
When Mrs Wood's friend, a secretary to her commanding officer in the British Army in India, told her that the colonel had became a satsangi, she followed him in that respect, but only after she had persuaded him to brief her, over dinner, on the teachings and the Master.
Flora Wood, born in 1923, and an early disciple of Sawan Singh, had served as representative to three masters. No satsangi in the UK could deliver a discourse at her level of spirituality and knowledge both of Sant Mat and of the Persian mystics. Under her quiet seemingly hands-off rule the satsang was intimate, peaceful, happy and without dissent.
All this changed when Gurinder made his first visit to the UK, and when Mrs Wood had booked the large Birmingham Convention Center in order to accommodate what had by then, under the guruship of Charan Singh, as well as mass Indian immigration, become a large sangat.
We sewadars positioned at the door of the VIP entrance were in awe expecting that another Charan Singh, whose bearing was that of emperor of emperors, who bathed in divine light, whose aura was of sanctified purity and spiritual radiance, instead witnessed the entry of an angry young man in a turban, boiling with rage, accompanied by a hired security made up of East London gangster types of the kind seen in Guy Ritchie's movie "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
Gurinder glared past our Radha Soamis and into the main hall leaving behind a shocked air of surprise and disappointment.
The word quickly spread that he was furious with Mrs Wood for the expense of the venue. Mrs Wood was quickly replaced by a family relation of Gurinders who may or may not have been very familiar with the English language and who confined himself to the Indian group. It is said that he did give a few satsangs in Punjabi to them.
From then the British sangat was butchered and by the time of the purchase of Haynes Park and the changeover of once loving sewadars to a sort of unkind Stasi rule, western satsangis were detaching themselves from RSSB in droves.
A political shift to republican thinking about Northern Ireland saw its very capable secretary fired and all power moved far away to Dublin down in the Irish Republic; a long journey to satsang. As it happened however all the western satsangis in northern Ireland, disciples of Charan Singh, no doubt sharing a feeling of many around the world for westerners that the behaviour of Gurinder and his lack of any of the qualities of mastership including his allergy to giving satsang were intolerable, abandoned the Radha Soami Satsang Beas anyway.
Mrs Wood passed away at 100 years of age in 2023.
As stated in the beginning of this piece Mrs Flora Wood was asked by the Dera in 2005 to write a postscript to her book In 'Search Of The Way.' It can only be surmised that the reason for the Dera's request for this further addition to the text was that she would note in her postscript the new incumbency of Gurinder Singh at the Dera.
However, Mrs Wood did no such thing, she did not even mention Gurinder's succession or anything about him. One can only surmise that this very learned and old satsangi saw the successorship in a different light than the general conclusion.
It is one of those fantasies of a Dera Baba Jaimal Singh cut off from the larger Sant Mat world outside its gates that a master will always appoint a perfect successor, what used to be called 'Dera gossips.' In the reality of history this is not always the case.
Given the vast size of a possibly multi-billion dollar world-wide institution like RSSB with all its housing dependents and even old sewadar pensioners and huge numbers of Satsangars and other properties (particularly all across India) the last Master cannot just throw in the turban and say "OK, there is no worthy successor, we are closing down the RSSB tomorrow!"
No, it is just then allowed to rot at the head, true seekers are no longer drawn to it, or leave it when they find it is no longer true and it deteriorated into another religion. That is the kindest way to go about it, a gradual shutdown.
All these years later the surviving satsangis of Charan Singh are still in a daze at what happened and have had no explanation from expert sources. There is an unhealed wound in many hearts, there are disciples of Charan Singh who lost their faith in the confusion some of whom want to find the way back to the path.
Today the RSSB to any outsider seems like some closed cult, hidden in plain sight from the world. To the spiritually minded internet seekers it is a black hole out of which no Bani comes. Anyone who goes to YouTube and looks up videos of Gurinder might be forgiven in thinking he is an apparatchick or politician of the Bhrata Janata Party or some sort of Raja.
He is ever seen surrounded by a posse of police officers or army men as he arrives in his private helicopter or jet somewhere for some reason. There is no teaching that an enquiring mind can grasp from this output, no satsangs of his to listen to (some say he does not give satsang).
Is Gurinder Singh a perfect master? Is there something that numbers of people have missed? Or is he simply the manager of a large institution playing it by ear? Many would like to know.
The article comes from the The Church of the Churchless June 2024
The blogger Robert Searle of this site had a close connection with Radhasoami Satsang Beas notably in the 1980s. When he first saw a small photo of Gurinder Singh as the successor of the previous Master Maharaj Charan Singh he instantly knew he was not a perfect guru. However, he did take intiation in May 1993 into Shabd Yoga. He also attended the huge meetings in Birmingham where he saw Gurinder Singh. He also knew Mrs Wood with whom he had a number of conversations.
Ancient Arab polymaths excelled by integrating diverse knowledge for lasting innovations.
Modern challenges demand interdisciplinary approaches to foster creativity and adaptability.
Lifelong learning and breaking silos enable holistic solutions for complex global problems.
There was a time when technology flowed from east to west; this was the golden age of the ancient Arab world, when knowledge flourished and scholars were not confined by the boundaries of single disciplines. These intellectual giants mastered and pionered the fields of science, arts, engineering, and astrology, embodying a spirit of versatility and curiosity that still resonates today. Luminaries such as Al-Farabi, the "Second Teacher" after Aristotle; Ibn Sina (Avicenna), a giant in medicine and philosophy; and Al-Khwarizmi, the father of algebra, demonstrated the immense value of cultivating multifaceted skills. They remind us also of later Renaissance polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci, whose work also spanned diverse fields.
This legacy prompts a thought-provoking question for our era: Could embracing a more holistic approach to education and problem-solving help us address today’s complex challenges? The lives and achievements of these ancient polymaths suggest that the answer is an overwhelming yes.
The Lasting Achievement of Arab Polymaths
During the golden age of the Arab world, roughly spanning the 8th to the 13th centuries, scholars gathered in stimulating intellectual centers such as Baghdad’s House of Wisdom. Here, knowledge from Greek, Indian, Persian, and Chinese civilisations was translated, studied, and expanded upon. These scholars did not view knowledge as silos of disciplines but as a unified web of understanding. For example, Ibn Sina combined his breakthrough knowledge of medicine, philosophy, and ethics to write his classic, The Canon of Medicine, a text that influenced medical practice for centuries to come. Similarly, Al-Khwarizmi’s pioneering work in algebra was deeply connected with his studies in astronomy and geography. Their ability to connect divergent fields of knowledge led to innovations such as the development of algorithms, advancements in surgical techniques, and architectural masterpieces like the Alhambra.These polymaths excelled because they embraced knowledge in its entirety. They were able to see the connectivity of ideas and used this understanding to solve complex problems and create systems that endure to this day.
The Case for Modern Polymaths
In our modern world that often prioritises specialisation, the polymathic approach may seem outdated. Yet many of today’s global challenges—climate change, pandemics, technological ethics, and social inequality—are inherently interdisciplinary. They cannot be solved by expertise in a single domain alone.
A holistic approach to learning and problem-solving fosters innovative thinking. Polymaths are often able to draw connections that others might miss. For example, combining insights from ecology and urban planning can lead to urban architectural designs that embrace sustainability while integrating artificial intelligence with sociology and ethics that can help address biases in technology.
Adaptability is another crucial advantage of this approach. In a fast-moving world, professionals who possess a broad skill base are much better equipped to navigate uncertainties and seize opportunities. Their versatility allows them to make meaningful contributions in multiple contexts and adapt their expertise to new challenges.
Additionally, polymaths often act as bridges between specialists, facilitating communication and collaboration across disciplines. Also, they promote a deeper understanding of interconnected problems.
Adopting the spirit of the polymath begins with how we change our approach to education and professional development. We find today that our educational systems push individuals to specialise early, but there is immense value in fostering a balance between breadth and depth.
Multifaceted education is a key starting point. Encouraging students to explore diverse subjects will help foster creativity and critical thinking, qualities essential for innovation. Universities and institutions could benefit greatly from creating interdisciplinary programs that blend sciences, arts, and humanities. Of equal importance is cultivating a mindset of lifelong learning. The ancient Arab scholars pursued knowledge for its own sake, driven by curiosity and a passion for discovery. This attitude is as relevant today as it was then. Embracing continuous learning and remaining open to new fields can lead to surprising insights and solutions.
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