Submitted by Rebus on
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The paranormal has been largely rejected by both the partisans of faith and the partisans of pure reason, especially in the elite intellectual institutions. Many establishments feel very threatened by the paranormal and most professional scholars of religion, humanities and science won’t touch the topic of the paranormal, fearing loss of position or credibility. Meanwhile, many ordinary people have paranormal experiences and are seeking meaning for these experiences and indeed, many of the professional class are also very interested, but keep their interest “in the closet” for fear of professional ridicule. A third realm of knowledge was needed for those adventurous souls who are willing and able to look at the paranormal.
Jeffrey Kripal discusses this third realm with us. It’s the realm of the Noetic sciences, and a small group of other organizations such as Esalen. Some elements of culture reflect this third realm, located somewhere between entertainment and the arts and esotericism. One thing that marks this realm is its resistance to easy dualism. He describes the history of “metaphysical religion” where mind is ultimate in some sense, and it is mind that creates the reality. These concepts are as recent as The Secret and as old as Plato’s Cave, and have never entirely disappeared from the culture.
LISTEN at this link:
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Resource: https://library.noetic.org/library/audio-teleseminars/metaphysics-popular-culture-jeff-kripal
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