The Baha'i Studies Listserv In this (mostly new) section of the book (which has been renamed, "The Unities Model of Existence), I relate the unities within unities ... (the calendar system) to Ram Roy Bhaskar's concept of meta-Reality or the cosmic envelope. I removed all of the diacritical markings in the email and all but one quotation. Again, comments or discussion would be welcomed.
Bhasker had a spiritual turn at the turn of the century. His philosophy of meta-Reality, which has expanded upon Critical Realism, refers to the non-dual ground-state for stratified reality (the Real), including the Actual and Empirical domains. Meta-Reality is also described as a non-dual cosmic envelope of reality. In my view, this expression, the cosmic envelope, could also be applied, with some modifications, to the ontological paradigm which is, I believe, presented in the Bahá?í calendar.... In The Unities Model, emancipation from oppression is accomplished or acquired through structurization (forming relationships with unity). That is to say, emancipation is the name of an attribute of human unity. Likewise, in Bhaskar's meta-Reality, the objective of any emancipatory project is the cosmic envelope. In effect, Bhaskar has retooled his emphasis upon emancipation into a type of moksha (Sanskrit, release or liberation) in Hinduism. Moksha was one of the major tenets within the Advaita (Sanskrit, non-dualist) Vedanta (Sanskrit, culmination of knowledge or, only etymologically, wit's end) of classical Indian philosopher, Adi Shankara (788 A.D.-820 A.D.). "Building on a radically new analysis of the self, human agency and society, Roy Bhaskar shows how the world of alienation and crisis we currently inhabit is sustained by the ground-state qualities of intelligence, creativity, love, a capacity for right-action and a potential for human self-realisation or fulfilment. He then demonstrates how transcendence and non-duality are necessary and ubiquitous features of all social interaction and human agency; and how these and connected features of human being and activity sustain the totality of the structures of the world of duality and oppression in which we live. Moreover, meta-Reality argues that any objective an agent chooses in life will ultimately set him or her on a process or dialectic to self-realisation, entailing a commitment to universal self-realisation; and it shows how these goals or ideals are explicit or implicit in all emancipatory projects, of whatever political, social or religious declension. Furthermore they all imply the same principles of clarity and commitment to social transformation (on all the planes of social being), which Roy Bhaskar articulates here. In a very real sense he demonstrates how these principles, for the first time clearly elaborated here in meta-Reality, are indeed the culmination of all traditions of thought and practice oriented to human well-being, emancipation or flourishing." (Publisher's Description of the book, Reality: The Philosophy of meta-Reality, Volume 1, Creativity, Love and Freedom.) On the other hand, because Bhaskar does not deny the existence of duality, his position may be closer, in some areas, to the philosophy of Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. This system of Vedanta belongs to the Gaudiya (Sanskrit for the Gauda territory now in Bengal, India, and in Bangladesh) Vaishnava (Sanskrit for Vishnu worship) tradition. The Hindu reformer and founder of the school, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, advocated a form of Bhakti (Sanskrit for engagement or, more loosely, devotion) worship through chanting the Names of Krishna. According to Chaitanya, the desire for moksha is an obstacle to bhakti. The most well-known contemporary spiritual movement identified with Caitanya's approach incorporates the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which was founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabupada (1896 A.D.-1977 A.D.), and various factions of the Krishna Consciousness (or Hare Krishna) Movement which began after Prabupada's death. Still, there are many branches of Gaudiya Vaishnava with no historical relationship to ISKCON. Unlike Shankara, Chaitanya embraced both advaita and dvaita. Rather than Advaita Vedanta or Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, perhaps Visishtadvaita (Sanskrit, qualified non-dualism) Vedanta is a bit closer to Bhaskar's philosophy of meta-Reality. Ramanujar (possibly 1017 A.D.-1137 A.D.) was the school's most important proponent. Like Advaita Vedanta, but unlike Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, Visishtadvaita Vedanta emphasizes the goal of moksha. However, distinct from the absolute non-dualism of Advaita Vedanta, the non-dualism of Visishtadvaita Vedanta is qualified. God is one, but He has many attributes. All around, however, I think that Dvaitavaita (Sanskrit for non-dualism/dualism) Vedanta, which is associated with Nimbarka (thirteenth century A.D.?) may be the fairest approximation, all around, to meta-Reality. In the Dvaitavaita school, both duality and non-duality are real. However, duality is encompassed by nonduality. Like the other Hindu movements discussed, with the exception of Chaitanya's Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, Dvaitavaita incorporates a concept of moksha. An individual is emancipated by surrendering to God. http://unities.bahaifaith.info/ --- Mark A. Foster, Ph.D., sociology of religion, theory, and clinical sociology Portal: http://markfoster.net * Critical realism: http://structurization.com Two books: http://bahaifaith.info * Clinical: http://fosterservices.com ________________________________ The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. 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