More than Matter

Cover image from Amazon

Consciousness
Keith Ward is a distinguished philosopher who delves into some of the most profound mysteries that give meaning and purpose to human kind. His book, entitled "More than Matter," challenges the notion that mind and consciousness result from haphazard accident or randomly arranged nerve cells and synapses.  In contrast to a purely materialistic and mechanical view of the mind he argues that consciousness transcends matter and gives worth, meaning and hope to existence and reflects purpose of the cosmos.

Dualism
He opens with a discussion of Descartes' dualism (often referred to as Cartesian dualism) which frames the world of persons in terms having two very distinct properties of mind and matter. Ward is a pupil of Ryle, however, he has some objections to the Ryle's notion that postulated the mind is a ghost (or illusion, see also previous blog - Sam Harris) that in some way drives the physical body-machine. Daniel Dennett, [one of the 'four horsemen of the new atheism', also a pupil of Ryle and a contemporary of Ward], is a materialist who rejects any idea of a metaphysical component of the self. In contrast, Ward proposes that consciousness and mind are not merely illusions but are quite distinct entities and quite distinct from that of matter.

Meaning and mind
This book is a philosophical examination of the essential characteristics of the meaning of persons. Ward investigates contemporary thinking about the nature of personhood and takes the reader on a meaningful ontological journey. In the first chapter he poses the question, "If all our knowledge begins from our own experience, how can we ever be sure that anything exists beyond our experience?" In some sense the essence of the world is a product of the mind. Kant "held that space and time, which seem so objective, are in fact forms of our own intuition. That is, they are essentially a framework the mind constructs in order to build a map on which our sense-perceptions can be located." Ward further develops the idea that the mind is a constructive force that induces the world of appearances and leads the reader to come to the conclusion that it must be a thing in itself and quite distinct from that of matter. For example, the mind interprets sensations of reflected light that gives the impression of the focused object that is being observed. In a sense the object itself is not what is seen but a sensual impression of that which is being perceived. In other words the mind constructs a situational model of the observed object.

The mind
We cannot know the mind itself because the mind is the consciousness that perceives the material world. "Nevertheless, it can seem plausible to think that consciousness cannot just arise out of nowhere, and be joined onto a brain in a completely accidental and unpredictable way."In other words the consciousness is transcendent, it is not a mere object that can be perceived like a chair or a table. We may not be able to know the mind as a material substance "we only know its phenomenal acts". Ward maintains, like Kant, that the basic activity of the mind is knowing, which is the foundation of reality and consciousness. Moreover, the nature of all reality is mind-like, the cosmos itself, is not mindless and purposeless, but oddly enough, it is mysteriously mind like, rule bound, logical and mechanistic.

Cosmology and consciousness
Albert Einstein developed the idea that time exists from first to last and our existence would seem to be timeless. Ward came to the conclusion, "Whether the passing of time is real or not, it might be just wrong to think that at the moment of the Big Bang nothing existed except a very simple physical state of infinite density. Most cosmologists suppose that there would also have been a whole set of quantum laws, and perhaps those very complex and precise balances of energy that would constitute what is called a "quantum vacuum". In modern cosmology, there is something outside space-time - a rich mathematical structure - from which space-time originates. There is, in other words, a "supernatural" reality; a more fundamental layer of reality beyond space-time.

Thus, these laws or supernatural structures are purposeful and goal-directed. The structure of matter and all lifeforms are the result of the coming together of complex systems, that may seem to be random but evolve and are the inevitable outcome of a logical universe. Metaphysics, mind, matter and flesh are intertwined and reflect the underlying structure and consciousness embedded within and determine the natural forces of the cosmology.

See also on YouTube:
Bishop Robert Barron on Stephen Hawking, atheism, philosophy, religion,  the new atheists, and  God as the non-contingent ground of being.
Jordan Petersen on atheism

Waking up: Searching for spirituality without religion

The Quest
In my quest for meaning I have decided to start a series of book reviews. Rather than delving into the intricate detail and spurious argument I thought that I would offer my first impressions. I am interested in different perspectives related to meaning. Certainly spirituality gives many people a sense of meaning.

Sam Harris
My first introduction to Sam Harris was through my interest in the writings of Jordan Petersen. I watched many of his interviews and debates on the Intellectual Dark Web, some of the debates were with Sam Harris. In one interview Jordan Petersen was asked who was it that he considered was his most formidable opponent. His reply was that he did not consider Sam Harris as an opponent but his arguments were quite well articulated and well thought through.  Sam Harris is a neurological scientist and philosopher, one of the "Four Horsemen of the New Atheism". His book, "Waking up: Searching for spirituality without religion." seem to me a good place to start the quest for meaning. The big question that I had was, can an atheistic scientist experience spirituality without religion.

Spirituality and Meaning
The main problem that I had in following his arguments was that he never adequately defined what spirituality actually was. Instead he took the reader on an experiential journey of eastern religion and chemically induced esoteric and pshycedelic encounters. He came to the conclusion that through meditation and mindfulness one could experience true spirituality, that is, if you divorced it from the religion on which it was founded. To some extent, he suggested one should empty themselves of conscious thought and enjoy the moment. He did, however, give many examples of devotees that have been abused by their spiritual leaders and Gurus. The tendency in eastern religions is to empty oneself of worldly thoughts and concerns. The problem (at least with the examples that he used) is that powerful personalities can use persuasion to invade that which has been emptied. In a similar way when one gives control of self over to psychedelic drugs one is open to fantastic experiences as well as experiences that are not very good at all, which can lead to profound negative consequences.

Experience and the Self
When discussing esoteric experience it always relates back to the self. However, Sam believes that the self may be just an illusion. This is quite understandable since he does not acknowledge a God. In contrast a Christian understanding of self is one that views the personage as made in the image of God with the Kingdom of God residing within. Christian meditation seeks to meditate on God, who is the ground of all being. In a sense it requires a spiritual filling rather than the emptying. However, this notion of God would seem to be fanciful to Sam because the God of his imagination, that which he does not believe in, is a harsh judging God.

What, then are we left with?
According to Harris, "Spirituality begins with a reverence for the ordinary that can lead us to insight and experiences that are anything but ordinary." However, if the self is illusionary and subjective experiences can be exciting or incredibly bad then we can only expect that we can be manipulated or, even worse, we can become the manipulators.

Harris, S. (2014). Waking up: Searching for spirituality without religion. London: Penguin.

Some other reviews from different perspectives may be of interest:

Nour, M. M. (2017) Waking up: Searching for spirituality without religion. BJPsych Bull, 41(1): 62–63.

Evans, J. A Review of Sam Harris's Waking up: Searching for spirituality without religion.
Blog site: Philosophy and other Dangerous Situations.

See also: The Guardian: Sam Harris, the new atheist with a spiritual side.