Endnotes

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Why Spiritual Practice?

1. Today, these certifications are handled by an offshoot of the AHA called the Humanist Society, and the term used is Secular Celebrant.

2. One simple book I often advise for beginners is The Spiritual Teachings of Marcus Aurelius, by Mark Forstater. One of the most important parts of the book, for me, was this…

“To the ancient Greeks, philosophy (the striving after wisdom) was not a dry, analytical discourse but a means to living life correctly. Philosophy was a tool: a method you could use to maintain harmony in your life, to control negative passions such as anger and hatred, to reason out the best action to take, to understand how the universe worked, and to find your place in it. Philosophy was to be embraced and lived, not just thought and talked about. The theoretical and discursive parts of philosophy were needed to clarify the mind, but the ultimate purpose was to put these ideas into practice and to live them in the mind, body, and spirit. The philosopher’s goal was to live a virtuous life and thereby perfect his or her character and find true satisfaction and happiness.”

This is where I began to see how philosophy was originally not some academic pursuit, but had been meant to have a real role in the everyday lives of people. It was through another book, Plato Not Prozac! by Lou Marinoff that I discovered more specific examples of how philosophy can be applied to our challenges today. This book also made me aware of the philosophical counseling movement. These were popular introductory books and not high-level philosophy papers to be sure, but the direction they emphasized was what was important. They lead me on to more developed works such as the translations of principal sources of Stoicism in The Hellenistic Philosophers, by A.A. Long and D.N. Sedley.

3. Conducting historical research is a different activity than studying a system of thought and practice for personal application. My goal is to create a straightforward handbook for applied practice that focuses on the concepts themselves and not a work of history or single philosophy alone. I’d like to avoid any distracting side debates about whether this or that concept is technically akin to this or that tradition, culture, or philosophy. No attempt at loyalty to any orthodoxy has been made here. This practice, though inspired by Stoicism, Buddhism, and more - is not Stoicism, Buddhism, or any other philosophy. Meanwhile, however, I do not wish to claim originality or fail to acknowledge the critical role of these historic sources. Consider this one personal cocktail or recipe that others may choose to incorporate.

In the meantime, I will not be using all of the proper terms from the traditions that inform this work. Nor will I always be clearly defining from which tradition each element comes. In many places, I have had to either pick terminology used by one tradition even as I include aspects of what it refers to from others. In other places, I have created new terms to approach common concepts that are called by different names within each tradition. Yet, by speaking of this as a contiguous path and practice using a consistent, intuitive and single vocabulary, I hope this book may be a practical tool for the reader. Practicality demanded consistency and so I’ve developed a new lexicon out of those terms, which have their own subtle meanings. It is assumed and strongly advised that practitioners follow with deeper study within the many great traditions that informed these pages. Such original traditions have centuries of accumulated voices and nuance that no single book can hope to capture.

What is Naturalism?

1. This is the difference between metaphysical knowledge vs. practical knowledge. Thus, on a practical level we can speak of ‘knowing’ something; even while acknowledging that we may not be able to have absolute knowledge of it. Clarifying which level of assumption we are operating at when discussing knowledge is helpful to avoid confusion. Science operates at a practical level, since there is no scientific way to draw conclusions if the ability to measure reality with the senses isn’t assumed. This is similar to the Two Truths Doctrine in Buddhism, which distinguishes between conventional truth and ultimate truth.

2. Types of Naturalism include metaphysical naturalism and methodological naturalism. Metaphysical naturalism is the position that holds the physical objects of the sciences are all that exists and that reality does not include any immaterial or supernatural phenomena. Methodological naturalism does not concern itself with claims about what all might exist, but focuses on understanding the natural world without reference to the supernatural.

Many popular science writers often come off as being metaphysical naturalists in their commentaries and books on the culture, and many are. But these books reflect their personal viewpoints - not their ‘official’ work as scientists. The ‘New Atheists’ or their like, would not attempt to submit their popular books on the culture to a scientific journal because, understanding science, they know that claims about what exists or doesn’t exist outside nature are inherently non-scientific (because they are in principle not falsifiable). Science is built upon methodological naturalism, which is simply an approach of taking what we can observe and measure, and trying to understand the world without referencing the supernatural.

Spiritual Naturalists do not claim knowledge of the world through means other than the senses and physical experience. Therefore, science becomes that ‘department’ within our community and practice which is the source of our understanding of the objective world. As such, it is methodological naturalism that provides the basis for how we proceed to build a practice for being happier and flourishing human beings. That means metaphysical naturalism is not required for the Spiritual Naturalist endeavor or practitioner - though it is possible some Spiritual Naturalist individuals may be metaphysical naturalists as well.

What is Spirituality?

1. The ‘essence’ or ‘essential aspects’ of a person could be looked at as that person’s character and their conscious experience. So, when we work on ourselves, we are working to change the essential nature of our character. This includes who we are and how we live and operate in the world. This is spiritual transformation.

2. Joseph Campbell book reference to go here.

3. You can read the Vision Statement for the Spiritual Naturalist Society at: https://snsociety.org/about-sns/vision-statement/

Healing the Schism

1. See the Dialogues of Plato: Phaedo.

2. The Hellenistic Philosophers, A.A. Long and D.N. Sedley. Cambridge University Press, 1987, p. 274 (Section 45: Body, Notes).

3. Christianity Without God, Lloyd Geering. Polebridge Press, 2002. p. 89.

4. Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould proposed the view that science and religion cover different areas of inquiry: facts and values, respectively, making them non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA). This is a very diplomatic way for a paleontologist to continue talking about evolution without getting into the mud with creationists, but ultimately it makes little sense. Values not derived from facts are madness. And if our concern is bias in fact-gathering because of values, well that isn’t values but ‘alternative facts’ at play. Meanwhile, fact-gathering devoid of values can lead to some monstrous methods and consequences. I reject NOMA, not as a proponent of one side seeking to purify it from the other, but as a proponent of both - with the conviction that a fully infused and integrated naturalistic spirituality is possible. Not only that, but that it has happened in the past and is happening as we speak.

The Anatomy and Function of A Practice

1. Paraphrase of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger): "When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind." --Letter LXXI: On the supreme good.

2. Many experiments have shown that our experiences have a very literal and real effect on the physical structure of the brain. For a naturalist, there is no divide between mind and body, as the mind arises out of the activity of the brain, which grows connections as physical as tree branches, through visceral experience.

3. Although many speak of Buddhist mindfulness meditation, there are also other traditions that have approached ways of honing our focus and attention. In one of my favorite traditions, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius describes careful observation of the details of organic systems, and the Stoic practice of Prosochē calls us to pay careful attention, moment-by-moment throughout our day. But having said that, the advantage of Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation is its enormous depth and detail of technique, and the fact that large communities of practitioners and experts can be found to help guide you.

4. At a later point, we will be exploring the Stoic-inspired principle that externals are outside our control and unnecessary for flourishing, including health. Suffice to say for now that it is the responsible caretaking of the body as an effort and practice that is advised. This is not to suggest that particular outcomes of those efforts are required for flourishing.

5. But what about engaging in spiritual practices for the simple fun and experience of it? Surely, one should hope that their spiritual practice is a fun, beautiful, and fulfilling experience in its own right. Perhaps you choose to simply experience various practices in ‘free flow’ and see where they lead you? This can be a wonderful way to explore spirituality and it’s all on the spectrum of what is described here. How regimented or free-form you wish your spiritual practice to be can be another part of what you design. Those who have specific aims will find a more directed approach to be powerful. But others may not have particular things about themselves they feel the need to work on, and want to be open to what the future brings. Either way, experiences will shape us. If we find our free flow exploration leads us to stormy waters, we can pull out the map and compass and tighten our navigation methods until we reach a place we can loosen up again.

CHAPTER 2: FRAMING THOUGHTS & ACTIONS

The Subjective Art

1. This requires a little trust that the subjects are telling us the truth about their inner experience. In pain medication research, we would never take their first-person experience as proof of the subject’s ideas about what’s going on biologically or chemically, but we would take their reports as evidence of the experience itself. The same for spiritual experience. If the goal is the experience itself, then the reports can suffice at least enough to try out the practices for ourselves. But for information like the neural effects on brains, this requires third-person observation in traditional empirical testing.

2. That is, of course, unless you take into account the fact that we consider reason and a humble approach to knowledge and claims as a part of our spiritual practices. As mentioned in a previous note, one would then say that reason and even science are that department within Spiritual Naturalism that provide revelation about nature and the objective world. My point here is that we don’t engage in some ritual or meditation and come out having gathered information through some paranormal or supernatural means. That is not something for which Spiritual Naturalists use their spiritual practices.

The Judgment Nexus

1. The Stoics referred to unhealthy emotions as a sickness of the mind, or pathos. They stressed that all pathos arose from misjudgment, and resulted in suffering.

2. While progress will make it possible to react wisely with no effort, that isn’t to say that great effort isn’t required to get there. It is much like expending great effort in the gym such then when it comes time to pick up the milk jug in the grocery store, you do it with ease.

3. I would like to thank Pema Chödrön, a brilliant Buddhist nun and teacher. When I read her wonderful book, The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, one of the things I noticed about it allowed for a major breakthrough in my book, which was becoming bogged down. I noticed how it was incredibly obvious what love she had for the reader. At that time, I decided to rethink my entire book and virtually rewrote with that in mind. I am no Pema Chödrön, but I hope some sense of loving motivation comes across in what can sometimes be a lot of technical material.

Understanding Control

1. The notion of ‘leaving it in God’s hands’ and the Serenity Prayer in Christianity is one of the examples of influence from Stoicism, which was big in the Roman Empire when Christianity came along. But as I go on to describe, the Stoics had an even more potent distillation of teaching on control.

2. This reminds me of the funny scenes in an episode of Seinfeld (The Serenity Now), where George’s father has adopted an empty practice of saying “Serenity Now!” whenever something starts to aggravate him. Of course, it doesn’t work and we eventually see him and other characters yelling the phrase while red faced with anger.

3. There are versions of things like prayer and spells in many traditions that can be practiced in a Spiritual Naturalist manner. In Spiritual Naturalism, these practices use methods which are more about self development than controlling external events. These versions of such practices can be very powerful and I will be getting into them later.

Good & Evil

1. I propose that “means/to” be an inseparable logical operator. In other words, the statement, “x means y” is incomplete and nonsensical. Similar to the “if/then” operator, the question, “What is the meaning of x?” is also incomplete; just as would be, “If Alice visits tomorrow.” Rather, the complete statement is always, “x means y to p.” The complete question form is always, “What is the meaning of x to p?” Later in this book I will propose a similar inseparable if/ought operator.

2. By “matters” I mean that subjective experience and states have objective consequences in the real world and objective consequences to our pursuit of flourishing.

3. It is true that our judgment mechanism, if you will, can be suspended with practice. We try to do this in mindfulness meditation, which can help us be more aware of all the little judgments we are making. There are useful times for suspension of such judgment, but we also need those kinds of judgments to build a value system and act in the world. The trick is making sure we know when we are doing it, and that the judgments have good reason behind them.

4. There is a distinction here between positive and negative emotions on one hand, and healthy or unhealthy emotions on the other. It is possible to have healthy negative emotions, healthy positive emotions, unhealthy negative emotions, and (yes) unhealthy positive emotions. Positive and negative emotions that arise from true judgments are healthy and productive in providing impulse to act for or against various outcomes. It is the unhealthy emotions (pathos), positive or negative, that impede flourishing in life and which we seek to diminish through practice.

5. The ancient Greek philosophy of Epicureanism held that true happiness, or flourishing, required a mixture of both inner virtues and external circumstances. However, another ancient Greek philosophy, Stoicism, holds that virtue alone is both necessary and sufficient for true happiness. Epicureanism is a much easier ‘sell’ to the world today because most people tend to think in this way. But in this book I will be attempting the (admittedly difficult) task of explaining how it can be that virtue alone can do the job - something I have come to believe. This independence from circumstance for happiness is, incidentally, why happiness is solely and completely within our control. We will move on to the topic of virtue shortly.

6. By classifying things outside of our control good or bad we are led to worry or be angry at things where it serves no purpose. Conversely, it also leads us to become overly delighted and attached to positive things without appreciation or mindfulness that their continuation is not within our control.

Virtue & Vice

1. That isn’t to say that impressive examples of this can’t be found in some other species. We are learning all the time about our cousins - other advanced social creatures such as dolphins, the other apes, elephants, and even wolves, birds, and more. But since they don’t tend to read books and this book for the reader as a practitioner, I’ll stick with addressing the nature of we humans for now.

2. Most people recognize that it wouldn’t matter what happened to our bodies kept alive on a machine if our brain were destroyed, because they don’t identify that as “me”. In similar fashion, we can begin to think of the destruction of the moral-rational being, by losing its morality or its rationality is of similar significance, over mere survival of any kind of being. We may even find cases where, in order to preserve the integrity of the moral-rational being, the biological organism within which it resides must be sacrificed. But this requires much further understanding.

3. One example of circumstantial variability could be the design of a tread on a tire. Tires can be designed for a variety of surfaces, from slick to off-road. Their tread needs to be designed differently for best effect in each condition. There are millions of ways we might design the tread of a tire and it can be a very complex problem. But no one would say that, because of the complexity of the problem, or because there are different answers in different conditions, that the art of tire design is subjective and not based on very real objective qualities, about which we can be wrong. Tires have a purpose and can be judged by their proficiency at filling that purpose. Ethics and virtue only seem subjective when the purpose hasn’t be defined or is said to be something equally subjective. Once one selects a naturalistic and practical purpose for virtue, the pursuit of it becomes an objective one. This practice proposes one such definition and the means to proceed in those terms.

4. This is a fear many people have when considering the prospect of objective ethics - that the person proposing it will then follow with their ‘objectively true’ suppositions which all should follow without question. It is wise and healthy to be suspicious of such dogmatism. But the response needn’t be a completely postmodern discard of objective truth. The middle path between these two extremes is acknowledgment that there are objectively true effects of our values on human well-being, but that we must all be tolerant, humble, careful, and reasonable in our exploration and discovery of them. The consequences of proceeding as though ethical questions have no wrong or right answer are also very real.

5. And what of all the work that needs to be done to encourage virtue in others and work against the vice in others? Becoming wiser, more emotionally healthy, and more virtuous will make us the best possible actor in the world. I will address the important role of action in the world and how it fits into spiritual practice later.

Sacred Tongue

1. No amount of detailed technical description of a sunset on a mountain range will give the reader the more complete feeling of what it was like to stand on the precipice and experience that sensation. Words are too simplistic of a container to transmit the full experience. So, we can instead take advantage of the fact that the two brains communicating are similar in structure, complexity, and experience and look for things in common. This approach therefore uses the words, not to transmit all of the data, but to simply stimulate parts of the other mind which already contain the necessary feelings and experiences. By doing so we rebuild that same experience and leave the receiving brain in a similar state of rich, deep understanding as the transmitting brain. This is not unlike putting the workload of native software on a workstation instead of having all of it on the server side, so that less data load is required to pass through a bottleneck in an internet connection.

2. I later encountered Rev. Michael Dowd, who refers to this as Night Language - the language of dreams, intuition, emotion - as opposed to Day Language which would be our more rational way to describe things. I’m sure there are many others with their own terms.

3. It is true that the obscure koan can have a functional use to help us break out of conventional thinking or engage in intuitive/creative experience. But some people use the obscurity and impenetrability of ancient philosophy and religious language to make themselves sound wise without saying anything substantive or meaningful. Or, they may be trying to sound ‘mysterious’ to convince people they are enlightened or serve their own egos. This is certainly not a proper use of sacred tongue. Proper use will leave you feeling like you understand what is being said, and you can emotionally relate to it in a moving way. If it is obscuring understanding of important concepts, then the teacher should be able frame in different ways as needed for the subject and student to gain a better grasp of the concepts.

The Shadows of Fear & Desire

1. As Marcus Aurelius reminded himself whenever he became too self important or upset, "...soon you will have forgotten all things..." and then, as if a reminder of his mortality were not enough, he takes an additional profound step, adding, "...and all things will have forgotten you." Yes, even for the famous emperor, there will come a time when no one alive will have ever known his name or the meaning of anything he worked to accomplish.

2. It is this wish fulfillment that is at the source of superstition, which infects various subcultures within nearly all great wisdom traditions. In the East, pragmatic transformative practices are set aside as adherents seek to appease ghosts or gain 'good luck'. In the West, teachings of humble lifestyle and forgiving one's enemies are replaced by materialistic prosperity doctrines and alleged 'laws of attraction'.

3. The Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, (himself a former slave) referred to all of us as slaves for this reason.

CHAPTER 3: COSMIC NATURE

Right View

1. One could also refer to them as characteristics of Nature, traits of the universe, or even facts of life. The nature of the cosmos is another way to describe it, which is what gives this chapter its name.

2. Heraclitus was a pre-socratic philosopher who made careful observations of the workings and transformations of nature, and though his writings were considered obscure (almost a Western version of the Taoist koan), these observations were profound and influenced later schools of thought. Unfortunately, we only have fragments of his writings but it is clear they consist of many observations and ideas about the workings of the natural universe.

3. Psychologist Abraham Maslow called it peak experience though that’s a little dry for my tastes. I share the term here because searches on it may aid the student’s further studies. Others call it religious experience, but that is too easily misconstrued. Aside from the term profound experience, I may sometimes use the closely related and overlapping term epiphany, which often comes from such experience.

The Emerging Science

1. The Philosophy of Science, edited by Richard Boyd, Philip Gasper, and John D. Trout. 1991. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2. Some of the biggest philosophical implications of quantum mechanics seem to be that we can’t rely on classical determinism because of true randomness playing a role in particle outcomes. But this often this ends up being practically like determinism for many cases. The universal speed limit of light seems to be violated, but then it isn’t in practice. Some people suggest quantum shenanigans within neurons could affect their macro-level activity and open the door for true ‘free will’. However, it’s not clear how a random brain is any more ‘free’ than a deterministic one. The reasons observation seems to affect the outcomes of things like the double-slit experiment are complex and mysterious, with many possible interpretations. But the extent to which mystics claim QM proves consciousness-created reality is really over the top and smacks of either ignorance, wishful thinking, or charlatanism. This is all a real shame since there are many wondrous and amazing things that can be appreciated about QM, its mysteries, and its potential, without such distortion.

3. The book that introduced me to Complex Systems Theory was, Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, by M. Mitchell Waldrop (1992, Simon & Schuster). It not only covered the topic in a very human and approachable way, but it told the fascinating story of the founding of the Santa Fe Institute. How people from across many fields were brought together there was very inspiring.

4. See Taoism by Alan Watts. More on the comparison between these notions will come in the following chapter.

5. Later I will introduce memetics. Suffice for now to say that memes can also interact in complex systems.

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attractor

The Is and the Ought

1. Religious supernaturalists, just as I am proposing, also take what is in order to suppose what they ought to do or not do. For example, if you believe God delivered a message to us through a prophet that says you will be punished if you do x, then, in your mind, that is a ‘fact’ about the world that you will use to inform you that people ‘ought not do x’. If you believe there is a cosmic salvation mechanism whereby a God in human form sacrifices Himself and we are to accept and believe that in order to get into Heaven - these are all facts (you believe) about your reality which necessarily prescribe what ought to therefore be done. In thinking along these lines, it seemed to me no more an extraordinary feat to find truths in the natural universe I accepted which would similarly lead to ethical and life prescriptives. I held at bay, for the moment, the fear in the back of my mind that such an exploration might lead to some kind of ruthless prescriptives based on the often cruel features of the natural universe. Something made me suspect that such a conclusion would be overly simplistic.

2. This passage was originally from:

http://www.yakrider.com/Tao/Taoism_Daoism.htm#Li

It, along with (3) below, summarize the neo-Confucian concept of Li, which is the underlying reason or order of nature. It can also be translated as "rational principle" or "law" and plays a central worldview role in the nexus between Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. I draw many parallels between it and the Stoic concept of the Logos discussed later. For more see the works of Alan Watts as well as "A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy" by Wing-tsit Chan (1963).

3. http://www.publicappeal.org/library/unicorn/watts/

on_taoism.html

4. http://www.archaeonia.com/philosophy/presocratics/

Heraclitus.htm

5. http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/text/logos.htm

6. http://www.calresco.org/intro.htm

7. Heraclitus, Fragment 26. I use this as a Stoic source even though he predates Stoicism, because of his direct influence on Stoic cosmology.

8. Diogenianus in Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica, vi. 8, quoted in Inwood & Gerson 1997, p. 190

9. https://www.taoistic.com/taoteching-laotzu/

taoteching-25.htm

10. http://www.goodshare.org/pillars.htm

11. http://www.sunyrockland.edu/~eharvey/art221/views_

of_reality.htm

12. http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/

ttcstan3.htm

13. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.38

14. These writings of Chuang-Tzu include books 1-33. Most prominent in my notes were: A Happy Excursion, On Leveling All Things, The Preservation of Life, This Human World, Deformities, The Great Supreme, Joined Toes, Horses’ Hooves, Opening Trunks, On Tolerance, and Autumn Floods.

15. Buddhism also begins with the recognition that all beings want to avoid suffering, and the Socratics sought the best way to the Good Life. As per endnote #1 for this chapter, all systems seem to refer to this assumed end, even if it is unstated or unconscious.

16. Sometime after writing this take on oughts for an article, I came across a similar approach by Lawrence C. Becker. In A New Stoicism, Chapter 4: Normative Logic, Becker states, “To say that an agent ought to do X is to say that her doing (or being) X is advisable (but not necessarily required) in terms of some endeavor that she has.” (p.36). I would take a more strict approach of saying, X is the most efficient means of proceeding toward the endeavor, all things considered. And, with moral oughts, the ultimate “endeavor” is human flourishing.

A Spiritual Taxonomy of the Cosmos

1. Of course, regardless of the merits of science, humans are imperfect creatures. Bias, politics, corruption, and so on all make their way into all of our endeavors at times, and the field of science is no exception. This is why there is not one thing that “science says”. Science, like God, never says anything. But both have many self proclaimed messengers. Unlike those who claim to speak for God, however, those who make scientific claims can be checked. Their work can be followed. And, if there is corruption, there is a possibility of correction. We must all be vigilant that the integrity of the scientific process is protected from those who would seek to misrepresent it or conduct it in invalid ways for ulterior motives.

2. I need to make clear at this point, what I am suggesting is not a more common point one often hears. My point is not that “science doesn’t know everything” or that we should be open to “the unknown” or “other possibilities” or anything like that. It is true that science ‘doesn’t know everything’, otherwise there would be no reason for continued research. It is also true that we should keep an open mind and hold all conclusions provisionally. But these simply aren’t my point in this part of the book. I make that clear because what I’m saying here could easily be mistaken for a proposal to entertain unproved phenomena. I am not proposing a claim of any additional phenomena than what one finds in scientific texts today. I am proposing a different way to organize and refer to those phenomena.

The Logos

1. This first paragraph is my interpretation of Heraclitus’ opening line in fragment 1. A more direct translation would be: “Though this Word is true evermore, yet men are as unable to understand it when they hear it for the first time as before they have heard it at all. For, though all things come to pass in accordance with this Word, men seem as if they had no experience of them, when they make trial of words and deeds such as I set forth, dividing each thing according to its kind and showing how it is what it is. But other men know not what they are doing when awake, even as they forget what they do in sleep.” -translation, John Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy, 1892. Many thanks to http://www.heraclitusfragments.com/ and https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fragments_of_Heraclitus for helping me find these.

2. The Gospel of John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NIV). Word here is a translation of Logos. By this time (CE 90-110), and certainly among most modern Christians, Logos has been ‘Christianized’ with very different connotations than it had for Heraclitus and the Stoics. Here it refers to Jesus Christ, as ‘the [Logos] made flesh’. It’s character is more personified and comes from a dualistic understanding by which miracles interject into Nature from outside, prior to, or ‘above’ it. The Stoics looking at all of existence as One whole Nature, and the Logos as the fundamental logic by which it unfolds, would say we are all the Logos made flesh. In other words, we have all emerged from the natural laws of the cosmos.

3. These observations were made by Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) (see Pratītyasamutpāda or ‘dependent origination’), among several others during the Axial Age. The fact that the universe operates in a rational way, and our recognizing of this, is what makes science itself possible. In the West, Heraclitus was a pre-socratic philosopher who made careful observations of the workings and transformations of nature, and though his writings were considered obscure (almost a Western version of the Taoist koan), these observations were profound and influenced later schools of thought.

4. This is similar to how the word Dharma is used in Buddhism. Often, it has multiple meanings on different levels. Dharma can mean the universal Way by which all things work. But it can also manifest as wisdom in human beings, or Dharma can mean the specific scriptures of Buddhism, since this is what the scriptures are talking about. 

Likewise, even when we speak of the “Laws of physics” today, it sometimes needs to be clarified: are we talking about the labeled laws currently written down in science books (likely to be incomplete or imperfect statements about nature)? Or, are we talking about THE laws of physics, as they objectively and truly are?

Similarly, it seems that Logos, in the most conventional sense, is talking about the words of the teacher, or the teachings in written form. But more universally, Logos is the ‘words written into the cosmos, or the workings of Nature’. This is more like how we view mathematics and its role in describing reality. If our universe were a simulation, the Logos would be the computer code on which it runs. 

Also like Dharma, there is a level in between the conventional and universal, where Logos refers to our own reason (or rational faculty) as human beings. As the world operates by rational principles, so too does our own brain/mind, and as such it is like a microcosm of the universe.

5. Most Western readers will recognize a similarity between Chuang-Tzu here and Job in the Christian Bible saying, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away…” (Job 1:21 KJV). While many Christians today interpret the Lord in a far more literally personified way than to which Spiritual Naturalists relate, this verse can serve a similar role if the Lord is understood to mean something more like what the Stoics meant by Zeus - i.e., the ‘soul of the cosmos’ or the rational rule which governs (is the Lord of) all things. Here, Job is recognizing what is of his domain of control and what is not. Surrendering to that higher power (leaving it in ‘God’s hands’) is like putting down a burden, bringing with it a measure of equanimity in the face of an impermanent universe.

The Divine Fire

1. Throughout the early Stoa, there were a variety of perspectives on the details around the Logos, the everliving fire, God/Zeus, fate, providence, and more. These concepts sometimes were a little fuzzy around the edges and overlapped in different ways with different Stoics. These concepts were part of Stoic physics - an actual effort to describe the world as technically as they could. I am using ancient correlates to modern understanding where I find them, and using their proximate terms as a way to speak about modern understanding in a more poetic, sacred tongue. But as I do so, I have chosen a specific demarcation between the Logos and the Divine Fire. While ancient descriptions of the Logos spoke of it as an account or word, they also presented it as moving through all things, as the active force animating matter. However, this overlaps with the concept of the everliving fire so I have placed Logos as something akin to the formulas and natural laws of the universe as if on paper (or, written in the book of the stars, rather). Whereas, the Divine Fire is the dynamic ‘playing out’ of that vigorous activity which the Logos dictates. This is somewhat like the difference between the seed formula of a fractal and the fractal actually being plotted out.

2. One could quibble today over the notion that all things proceed from prior causes. Quantum theory suggests that the wave function collapse of a particle is not dependent upon any prior cause or ‘hidden variables’ but is perhaps the only truly random thing in the universe (or, rather, the only truly statistical thing, to be more precise). Nevertheless, the important point here is that the universe operates according to principles that can be observed, ‘figured out’, and understood rationally. Even quantum mechanics - counter-intuitive, mind-boggling, and revolutionary though it is - has not undermined the very enterprise of science or reason yet.

3. One principle that seems to arise in the maelstrom of matter and energy, space and time, is a sense of polarity running throughout the cosmos. Heraclitus noted that things could be characterized by pairs of contrary properties, or opposites. He believed all things came into being through the conflict of opposites, and the sum of these opposites create the flow of activity in the universe. The Stoics spoke of both the passive and the active, while the Taoists speak of the Yin and Yang. In modern physics, Newton brought us the more refined knowledge that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Today we also know of complimentary particles, the activity of quantum foam, and quantum pairing. In complexity science there is a balance between complete order and complete chaos in which rests dynamic systems. These principles of opposites carry on up into our macro world and cross the boundaries of physics - into biology, psychology, and even sociology and culture.

4. In many ways, watching abstractions of this principle can be even more effective in ‘getting it’ than watching real-world examples. Consider looking at something like the beautiful abstract and complex patterns in a music visualizers - or incredible ornate animations of three dimensional fractals moving and morphing. These kinds of images portray exactly the kind of continuous interactive flux that goes on in the world. We see small strange shapes come up into being, change, and wither away. It is much like cycles of birth and death, but entirely abstract. When these things are not abstract, we place labels and judgments and values on them. When it happens with a baby being born or a decaying corpse we have feelings of endearment or revulsion. When it happens with fortune and tragedy, we assign values to it like ‘right’, ‘wrong’, ‘good’, ‘bad’, etc. All of these are obstructions to pure insight. So, seeing this kind of activity distilled from particulars is what these abstract images can be excellent for.

Emergence

1. Mathematician John Horton Conway, in 1970, developed a ‘zero-player game’ - a model in cellular automation - called The Game of Life. It is a model that wonderfully demonstrates how complexity can arise from very simple components, with as few as three simple rules for interaction. Starting with a grid of squares (like graph paper), cells are ‘alive’ if they are filled in, and ‘dead’ if they are empty. The three rules are: 

• Any live cell with 2 or 3 live neighbors remains (survives) to the next iteration.

• Any dead cell with 3 live neighbors becomes a live cell (is born).

• Any live cell with more than 3 neighbors, or less than 2 neighbors, dies.

The game is zero-player because you simply move from one iteration to the next and the laws dictate what happens next. 

Even starting with a random spattering of filled in cells, what proceeds looks a lot like writhing organisms under a microscope. Placing this into a computer makes the process even easier to see. Unexpectedly complex forms and structures emerge, which move, grow, and can even reproduce themselves. Moving from abstract square cells to particles (or strings, etc), and replacing these three simple laws with some imagined ultimate set of physical laws, makes it very clear how complexity can arise from chaos from the ground up, with no top-down ‘designer’ at work.

2. Such a counter to entropy does not violate the third law of thermodynamics because that law describes closed systems. When a system is open to receive energy, that energy can drive greater complexity. This is how anything ever emerges in any local environment, including when we human beings bring the energy from our food into an area and build a bridge.

In, Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop quotes mathematician and complexity researcher Doyne Farmer, who says:

“I’m of the school of thought that life and organization are inexorable… just as inexorable as the increase in entropy… Life is a reflection of a much more general phenomenon that I’d like to believe is described by some counterpart of the second law of thermodynamics - some law that would describe the tendency of matter to organize itself, and that would predict the general properties of organization we’d expect to see in the universe.”

3. Biologist and complex systems researcher, Stuart Kauffman, has suggested (in his book, Reinventing the Sacred, Perseus Books Group, 2008) that this creative capacity of the cosmos be our proper, and fully natural, conception of God. Later I mention the non-linear indeterminacy of complex systems and Kauffman refers to this as arising from natural law, but not being ‘law governed’. Natural law is a part of the Logos and a sacred part of the Mulberry Path, but Emergence is that point where Logos gives birth to a creation with its own Will. While the Mulberry Path takes a less personified, perhaps more Eastern approach than to employ the God concept, it is true that all of these classical concepts (such as ‘will’) must be re-examined and reclaimed within a naturalist context. Framings will vary among these Spiritual Naturalist paths.

4. Using complexity models, it seems that life may not have arisen first in any one molecule with the ability to replicate itself, but rather from a set of molecules created by a catalyst which comes from other molecules in the set. This is called an autocatalytic set. Biological experiments based on these models have since discovered RNA molecules emerging from simpler components (see "Self-sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme", Tracey A. Lincoln and Gerald F. Joyce, Science, 2009). Mathematical models of autocatalytic sets have not only given good weight to abiogenesis theories, but have been useful in other systems such as economics.

5. Aristotle stated, "...the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts..." As the various parts of the universe interact with one another that interaction and capacity for self-order brings about whole new properties that manifest at higher orders and are not reducible to their parts. The Tao te Ching also speaks of the cart that is more than the sum of its parts.

Interdependence & Impermanence

1. Interconnectedness also plays a role in Stoic philosophy, where it was called Sympatheia. They recognized that all things are woven together have have natural sympathy for one another. This realization formed the basis of their concept of the common good, universal brotherhood, and cosmopolitanism.

2. The forms of alleged permanence include obvious claims like an eternal Heavenly afterlife or an immortal soul. But permanence claims can also take the form of faith in science to provide some kind of immortality. Even attachment to things like legacy and fame can be delusional fantasies to escape the reality of impermanence as well. Also included would be alleged unfounded claims for ways to empower us to be able to control or mitigate the changes or loss: prayer as wish-fulfillment, spells, blessings and curses, fortune-telling, and so on.

3. The philosopher Proclus, in his Elements of Theology, noted "All that proceeds from any principle and reverts upon it has a cyclic activity." Heraclitus spoke of the "upward-downward path" when describing the cycles of transformation in Nature. Later Stoics would speak of varying levels of tension in pneuma which form layered qualities from body, to life, to consciousness, to intellect, which could be seen as higher orders of complexity. They believe that our intellect is a spark of the Divine Fire. This is not far off, given that our brains have evolved as a result of natural law, and are reasoning machines precisely because it is only beneficial to have a reasoning machine in a rational universe accessible by reason. 

Being a spark of the Divine Fire is similar to the Taoist concept of human beings as a microcosm of the universe. Meanwhile, the Avatamsaka Sutra describes to the Buddhists a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms, mutually containing one another. Concepts of rebirth are various while the Stoics had a concept of a great conflagration at the beginning and end of a repeating cycle of universes. 

Regardless of the particulars of these models as they compare to what we understand today of Nature, many traditions included some recognition of these nested repeating patterns. Clearly repeating patterns, whether structural or temporal, are an inherent and pervasive quality of the universe, providing an underlying framework for connecting these examples in ways more profound than simple analogy or metaphor.

Existence & Subsistence

1. This is a rejection of Plato’s theory of ideal forms and instead agrees with the Stoic position that ‘only particulars exist’.

2. It was the Stoics that had this concept that Reality consisted of that which exists and that which subsists. While their decisions on which things belonged in which category would be different today - they were, in essence, correct and their conception greatly captures the basis of language, meaning, mathematics, information theory, memetics, complex systems, emergent properties, and more. For naturalists, this is an important distinction so that important realities do not get tossed out with the supernatural bathwater.

Also, importantly, I have aligned this concept with the Buddhist concept of emptiness. The Diamond Sutra goes into great detail on emptiness. While some mistakenly interpret Buddhism to be suggesting that the world is not real, I would say emptiness is another way to talk about subsisting phenomena. Rather, it is our conceptions about the world which are illusory and delusional - also aligning with the Stoic premise that all pathos arises from misjudgment.

3. The Stoics called these the incorporeals, such as: time, place, void, and (significantly) the meanings of words.

4. Memes are more than just popular cat pictures and funny jokes shared on social media. Memetics is the study of how information propagates between humans and in culture. A meme is an idea, belief, or even a pattern of behavior. It is analogous to a gene. That is because the approach is to look at information in human culture as going through a similar ‘survival of the fittest’ Darwinian evolutionary process within the human mental environment. This doesn’t mean that the meme is necessarily true or accurate (or even that it’s truth makes for its fitness) - but simply that it is more capable of ‘survival and replication’ within and among humans, given the nature of the human brain/mind and the larger environment in which humans operate.

The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book, The Selfish Gene (1976), and was inspired by the work, “Corpuscles of Culture” by Ted Cloak a year earlier. Prior to that, William S. Boroughs compared language to a virus in “The Ticket That Exploded” (1962). Since the 1980s, memetics approaches have been used by authors and researchers including Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and Susan Blackmore, the latter of which wrote, “The Meme Machine” (1999) (with a foreword by Dawkins) to more completely flesh out the theory. Memetics has had a hard time becoming a recognized research program, with some critics even referring to it as pseudoscience. Dawkins and some others have since distanced themselves in some ways from the movement, but it still has strong support as well.

Indeed, if we begin to think of memes as existing, then they can become like pseudoscientific ‘ghosts in the machine’. But this is to misunderstand what memetics is or is, or for which it is meant to be used. I mention memes here because they are an example of that which subsists. In other words, they are as real as a constellation, government, and even a ‘person’. None of these things can be put on a scale or isolated from the aggregates from which they emerge. Yet, they cannot be classed with ghosts, unicorns, or angels. They are real but they subsist as patterns, waves, and effects between and among the activity and relationships of their constituents. This is why showing that a meme does not independently exist does not remove the reality, importance, or applicability of memetics. Memetics is an approach - one perspective for looking at phenomena that can be illuminating and help us to understand events and relationships. If memetics is pseudoscience then so is social science, game theory, economics, political science, and information theory.

5. In January of 2013 this record was broken by the Huge Large Quasar Group, a chain of 73 quasars 4 billion light-years across. 

6. In Buddhism these forms are called Sankara.

The Aggregate Self

1. Socrates disagreed with Simmias on this, and held the soul to be immortal. But while ‘immortal souls’ seem to be an obvious allusion to ghostly spirits of the beyond to us today, this is only looking back at the phrase through a Christianized lens. Socrates’ arguments for the immortality of the soul were also materialist in approach, and resulted from a rational examination of the facts they had at the time. So, both Simmias and Socrates were trying to figure out a naturalistic and physics-based explanation for biological life, intelligence, and consciousness. It is only after the terms they used took on other meanings under Christianity that this seems less clear to us today.

Incidentally, I have carefully analyzed both Simmias’ and Socrates’ arguments. Simmias’ argument is based on an analogy between souls and harmonies, which means it cannot be counted as any kind of proof. It happens, in retrospect, to have a correct conclusion, however. Socrates answers Simmias with three arguments, but since all three are in some manner picking at whether the soul is analogous to a harmony, they are somewhat irrelevant...

The first relies on an earlier argument for the pre-existence of the soul (that the harmony is not pre-existent to the lyre so it is not like the soul). However, the argument of pre-existence of the soul is based on flawed information, which modern understanding of the brain would have resolved. The second argument Socrates uses is that there are levels of harmony but not levels of soul. But, of course, there are, as levels of consciousness and sentience have been shown in cognitive science and biology. The third argument against Simmias is about the lyre leading to (causing) the harmony, while the ‘soul leads the body’. This has been proved incorrect by modern brain scans, such as in experiments by neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes which predicted the choices of subjects up to ten seconds before they were aware they had made them - Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H.-J. & Haynes, J.-D. Nature Neurosci. doi: 10.1038/nn.2112 (2008).

It therefore seems clear to me, that Socrates’ valuing of reason, logic, and observation - when combined with today’s information - would have led him to conclusions much more aligned with Simmias’. For more information on this analysis, see my essay, “The Natural Soul & Socrates” at

https://www.snsociety.org/the-natural-soul-socrates/

2. Heraclitus, Fragment 51.

3. Anatta is the Pali word often translated as ‘non-self’. Such denial of a continuing soul is one of the Three Marks of Existence in Buddhism.

4. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, XII 3.

5. Some meditators describe no-self as the most profound of Buddha’s discoveries. The practice of non-attached and nonjudgmental awareness of one’s thoughts arising and passing; this can give deeper, more intuitive insight on no-self. This insight is one of the non-dual nature of subject and object. See this site for more information:

http://www.buddhanet.net/anattamed.htm

6. In Buddhism, the Two Truths Doctrine outlines to levels of satya (Sanskrit and Pali word for truth or reality). This distinction between conventional (or provisional) truth and ultimate truth is very similar to the thought behind the Stoic distinction between existence and subsistence described earlier. No-Self is true, in the sense that the self does not exist. Yet, the self obviously subsists, which is why we can refer to it at all. In Pyrrhonism, Sextus Empericus outlined a similar distinction between ‘that by which we judge reality and unreality’, and ‘that which we use as a guide in everyday life’.

Cosmic Nature & Humanity

1. That is, all beings which are functioning in a healthy manner. Some forms of psychosis or mental disorders and conditions aside - all human beings seek True Happiness (not mere pleasure), although they may not recognize it as such, may not realize this is their aim, and may not know the path to it.

2. Remember Chuang-Tzu's suggestion that we must see the "great ocean" to emerge from our narrow sphere and truly grasp how tiny we are in space and in the time we are here (see “Interconnectedness & Impermanence”).

3. The Taoists refer to this as 'effortless action' or Wu Wei.

CHAPTER 4: BRINGING IT TOGETHER

Falling in Love

1. The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön, Shambhala Publications, 2001.

2. When I first had this thought and expressed this notion about having no problems with the billions of years before I existed in an article, a reader informed me that Mark Twain had said the same thing. I had not heard of this, but then I heard comedian Ricky Gervais also say it a few times. I discovered later that it had been somewhat paraphrased, modernized, and simplified by Richard Dawkins in his book, The God Delusion (which I have never read), from whom I suspect Gervais had gotten the quote, given the wording. Twain's original quote was:

"Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born—a hundred million years—and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes." --Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol 2: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Mark Twain. Edited by Benjamin Griffin, Harriet E. Smith, and Victor Fischer. University of California Press, 2013.

3. “Everything flows” --Heraclitus. Or, all things are in flux. This is somewhat the Western ancient Greek philosophy equivalent to Impermanence in Buddhism.

4. Naturalists see our minds and personality (natural soul) being the products of the brain and the body. Many naturalists take this concept and get the notion that the ‘wiring’ of the brain determines one’s fate. Or, they talk about ‘chemical imbalances’ or how some brains can’t make certain neurotransmitters. When told that one’s thinking and mental habits can address mental conditions, they imagine this to be like someone telling them “thinking positively” can heal a lost limb. But this is an unscientific and misguided understanding to how the brain works, and ignores many cases that show otherwise. 

Yes, the neural ‘wiring’ and neurotransmitters are not something that someone can just think their way out of on command or change with a simple shift in attitude. While the brain mirrors some computer systems in some ways (especially neural net computers), it has one important characteristic to the contrary. That is: the physical architecture of the brain is literally grown, trimmed, or shaped over time by the kind of activity that flows through it. Similarly, the production of neurotransmitters is also variable over time, based on a wide complex array of factors - none of them unchangeable. 

There is a reason a mental condition is called a condition. That is because it is not an infection or an injury. When you sit down in a chair, your condition is sitting. When you stand up, you have a standing condition. Now, true, conditions vary in how difficult they are to get into and out of. But if you got into a condition, you can get out of a condition. It’s not about blame, but about the opportunity to be empowered.

It’s true that, for some people at some times, certain medications may be appropriate and helpful. And it is true that you cannot simply ‘decide’ to be more cheerful or have some other condition. It is also true that you shouldn’t take any drastic actions to stop or start any kind of drug treatments without the help of professionals.

But what you can do is begin a practice that will, over time, sculpt the brain to work differently, somewhat like physical therapy. And the degree of change can be surprising. This is called brain plasticity, and recent discoveries in the plasticity of the brain are showing it far more malleable than we ever realized.

Seek out people who have gotten through depression and other conditions and ask them how they did it. Impermanence is a very real and very powerful truth. “All things can change” applies to both you and your mental and emotional conditions. This is why “who you are” is full of possibility and potential - who you are is boundless.

5. [Émile Durkheim info here]

6. “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.

7. Footnote to “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg.

8. William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet" Act 2, Scene 2. This is the function of sacred tongue in our practice: to better communicate and induce a loving relationship with Nature - the Reality which makes us and our precious life possible.

Transcendence

1. The phrase comes from a poem by the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross. “The Dark Night” refers to a spiritual crisis. In Catholicism it is also called desolation. I refer here to a general loss of fulfillment that comes with a spiritual practice over time. The initial enthusiasm wanes and fulfillment no longer lasts. This period is often seen as a desert one must cross to come to an even fuller understanding and experience.

2. The notion of the ‘lizard brain’ is an older and simplified way of distinguishing between earlier evolved structures in the basal ganglia which are more ‘hard-wired’ (and stronger/harder to resist) than the neurons in the cerebellum, which are more adaptable but can sometimes be overpowered by the more primal drives.

3. The Buddha went through a period in his search for enlightenment, where he practiced with the ascetics. He starved himself to the point of being skeletal in appearance. But he eventually came to the conclusion that this kind of extremist denial does not lead to enlightenment. This was the beginning of his discovering the Middle Way. Various Stoics and Hellenistic philosophers also practiced asceticism. Some of these self-denial practices can be useful if done periodically as ways of resetting our pleasure gauge and appreciation.  We will discuss some of these in the last section on Practices. But constant states of asceticism can be a form of attachment in themselves.

4. This pattern of moving outward toward those closest, to strangers and eventually to enemies is a strikingly parallel pattern to the procession used in loving-kindness meditation. Some people may not always place themselves at the center of concern. Some people have problems with self-love and tend to put others before themselves to the point of it being a problem. In this case, it is ok to imagine those we care for at the center, and ourselves further out. The point is, the expansion will eventually move outward to include everyone, including ourselves.

Ethics & the Mulberry Path

1. Divine Command Theory (DCT) is also a 'rule system'. As naturalists, our main issue with DCT is that it is the most subjective of all ethical systems. No one has ever proven to have received a divine command. We only have things written down or people claiming to know what these commands are. This reduces ethics to a popularity or power contest.

2. The postmodernists and some ethical skeptics deny the validity of the endeavor itself. Meanwhile, intuitive ethics could be considered one part of Stoic ethics which involves belief based on the “cognitive impression" (phantasia katalēptikē) - an impression entering the senses which is obvious enough in its own right to constitute knowledge without further consideration. But there are many caveats and arguments about self delusion related to this concept..

3. For example: Kantianism, is a deontological (rule-based) ethical system, but part of its rules is that the good motivation of the actor is essential to the matter. This overlaps into virtue ethics. And Hedonism, for example, could be considered a separate category of its own - except that maximizing pleasure is itself a 'rule' and comes close to utilitarianism. Almost all of these systems acknowledge and attempt to incorporate good points found in the other systems. The differences seem to be where the primary skeletal support is placed as center, with the other points being afterthoughts, exceptions, interpretations, or appended on in some way.

4. What the Buddhists would call defilements of the mind, and the Stoics refer to as false judgments.

5. The ancient Stoics referred to these as eupatheia and pathei. Emotion can be a misleading word in understanding contemplative perspectives and practices. This word wasn’t used as it is today in ancient texts. Feelings might be a better translation, but I will use emotion because it is more expected and common. Suffice it to say, what we are really talking about here are those instinctive and near-instinctive (deeply seated) impulses to act. They bring with them pleasant or unpleasant feelings. There are other equally valid ways to parse all these words and categories, but the way I will present communicates some important concepts.

6. The framing in this chart is very much derived from scholarship on Stoic philosophy, with some changes to fill out some areas and use more understandable terms. The Stoic arrangement originally had the terms associated with present and future. I have added past-related terms. 

7. The Stoic scheme had no present-based counterpart to distress. The thinking was that unhealthy feelings (pathos) arise about things not in your control, and you would have no healthy negative feelings regarding the present situation because in the present you still have the power (control) to simply do something else. However, I have added Devotion into this position as meaning, the feeling of enduring present unpleasant conditions for good and virtuous reasons. This would seem to be both an unpleasant feeling in the present, and one a wise person would still willfully experience - for example, putting oneself into an emotionally unpleasant environment in order to heal the sick. Of course, for the wise, this would also be accompanied by the Joy that comes with acting virtuously (and thus bitter-sweet). 

However, this becomes a very intricate matter in Stoicism, because the Sage (perfect Stoic) would be so in tune with the realities of impermanence and the dichotomy of control, that they would not even experience pathos (unhealthy emotion). Yet, the negative feeling we speak of here is not unhealthy but healthy, for it is healthy to allow ourselves to feel the suffering of others - if it does not become pathos. Here, the unpleasant emotion does not arise from the misjudgement that we can prevent all suffering in others. Rather, it arises from the true judgment that empathy for the feelings of others is psychologically healthy for a human being to nurture, and helps to motivate virtuous action. 

The existence of other negative-but-healthy (eupathei) feelings creates a space for this consistent with Stoic doctrine. But like the difference between all healthy and unhealthy emotion, we will know whether our pain comes from a healthy or unhealthy source because of its origins and its effects. Distress, in this example, comes from incongruity with the reality of the suffering of others - and inability to handle reality. Its effects will be a negative impact on our ability to perform effectively in this place of suffering. We will break down, and want to flee. And, even if we fight this distress with sheer willpower without fleeing or breaking down, the very fact that it arose will have unhealthy consequences. It will linger on and we will have trauma from it after the fact.

But the unpleasant feelings of empathy with the suffering of others which I am calling Devotion leaves us feeling connected with those suffering and, though unpleasant, has the consolation of being in this together. There is a healthy acceptance of the suffering in the same manner as a Stoic would be able to have a healthy acceptance of one’s own suffering - indeed identical to that. And the results of devotion leave us able to act effectively. We feel without being crushed. This is the consolidation of the reality of Stoic oikeiosis (expansion of the self to include others) and the ability to experience healthy mature emotion in the face of our own misfortune - all without being in denial, numb, or emotionless. The Oneness of others and ourselves is a two way street. It allows us to feel for them and with them, but it also allows us to spread the strategies of response to our own suffering onto our response to the suffering of others. Just as it should be within the reality of Oneness. This is how a present negative feeling can be a healthy counterpart to distress.

8. Aristotle had a list of about 11-18 moral and intellectual virtues, which were all a mean between two vices of excess. Plato’s were four: prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. The Romans had a sweeping list of virtues personified with various deities. The Stoics had: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance, but they also had a code of honor and other schemes, such as Epictetus’ threefold disciplines: assent, action, and desire/aversion. The Christians list seven heavenly virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility - countered by the seven deadly sins. In the East, Theravada Buddhism lists the ten Pāramitās (perfections): generosity, morality, renunciation, discernment, diligence, patience, honesty, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity. The Mahayana Buddhist list has six. The Three Jewels of the Tao are: compassion, moderation, and humility - but there are also eight virtues of Taoism: love/respect for teachers/elders, sibling harmony, loyalty, honesty, manners/courtesy, courage/sacrifice, honor/integrity, and conscience/shame. Confucian virtue includes the Five Constant Virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness.

As you can see, these can all be somewhat similar and overlap in interesting ways, especially when one looks deeper into their particular interpretations of these one-word labels. I reviewed many such systems and cross-compared before suggesting the Primary Virtues model.

On Compassion

1. Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk, author, scholar of comparative religion, and social activist known for promoting interfaith understanding, especially exploring Eastern thought. His statement about compassion was made just two hours before his death in 1968. He was speaking at a conference on East-West monastic dialogue. Religious Education, Vol 73 (1978), p.292.

2. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

3. Neil Schoenherr, Washington University in St. Louis, "Humans Evolved to be Peaceful, Cooperative, and Social Animals, Not Predators" (Medical News Today: 12 December 2005). http://medicalnewstoday.com/releases/38011.php

4. Rizzolatti G, Fabbri-Destro M (January 2010). "Mirror neurons: from discovery to autism". Experimental Brain Research. 200 (3–4): 223–37.

5. Ken Binmore, "Review of: The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration, by Robert Axelrod" (The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, SIMSOC Consortium: link , 23 April 2006).

6. Pema Chödrön, in her excellent book, “The Places that Scare You” (Shambhala Publications, 2002) gives detailed advice and Buddhist practices on fearlessness in difficult times; particularly so as to be of better help to those in need. On p.77 of the paperback, she outlines three ‘near enemies’ of compassion: pity, overwhelm, and “idiot compassion”, along with solutions.

7. This was the main message of the earlier chapter in this book, The Subjective Art.

8. Paul Kurtz, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Humanism (Prometheus Press: Amherst, NY, 1988), p.97-128.

The Primary Virtues

1. I am certain many others have used color wheels before to enframe all kinds of concepts; no doubt including virtues. The model presented here is only meant as one example of how virtues can be grouped and thought of. Some prefer more classical models, or models based on psychology, and so on. The important thing is that the practitioner has skillful ways of keeping mindful of virtues when considering matters that come up in life, and in our personal development.

The Five Realms & Twenty Precepts

1. This is a truth both observed and exemplified by many religions, philosophies, and traditions throughout history and around the world.

2. As the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism states: attachment or craving these things is the cause of suffering.

3. It is important to note the use of the word Nature here refers to all of what is in our natural universe. It is meant to distinguish from that which may be alleged to be supernatural. As such, it includes space, time, particles, physics, rocks, planets, life forms, people, brains, minds, technology, pollution, and more. To mistake the use of the word Nature throughout these precepts for the narrow concept of what one sees when going camping - trees and animals 'out in the countryside' would render most of these precepts meaningless or false.

4. Implicit in the method of science is a doctrine that values integrity, objectivity, and honesty in the handling of ideas and statements. As the Taoist philosopher Chuang-Tzu says, “We must have true men before we can have true understanding” (The Great Supreme).

5. This concept of Nature is comparable to the Stoic concept of the Logos, the Buddhist concept of Indra’s net, or the Taoist concept of the organic pattern Li. Components of this view include notions similar to the Stoic Divine Fire (Heraclitus), the Yin/Yang, and even Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s “absolute”.

6. In his book, Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes that it is “not only the material, but also the process and the result... Who looks upon a river in a meditative hour and is not reminded of the flux of all things?” He says, “...the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.” This precept is also a rejection of dualism and an affirmation of a holistic, monistic view of mind and body.

7. In his Taoist writings, Chuang-Tzu outlines many ways in which understanding of Nature should form our approach to living. Such understanding is incremental and not something we either have or do not have.

8. The ancient Greek Oracle advised, “know thyself”. Buddhists advise mindfulness of our inner states, our actions, our impressions, and our environment. Much short-sightedness comes from disregarding our interdependence. In an era of the city-state, Stoics considered themselves ‘citizens of the cosmos’ (cosmopolitans).

9. This is similar to the Buddhist concept that the ‘self’ is an illusion. I plan to write further on the ‘metaphysical body’ and ‘regressive qualia contemplation’. See Chalmers on qualia as a fundamental property of the universe (Scientific American, "The Puzzle of Conscious Experience", p.96). Lastly, see 'autopoiesis' regarding the lack of distinction between particles making up 'us' and those not.

10. See Stoicism: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca. As for 'dancing well', see "Wu Wei" and the philosophy behind Gung Fu, Tai Chi, and Judo.

11. See Stoicism. Possibly Buddhist effort to improve focus and direct attention.

12. One part of what Stoicism calls ‘living in accordance with Nature’ is this acceptance of what is not in our control. Also, non-attachment as in Jainism & Buddhism. See also Heidegger’s ‘Enframing’ concept.

13. Stoics call our inner choices the only true ‘good’ and ‘evil’, all else is called an ‘indifferent’.

14. This is similar to the Buddhist concepts of karma and merit.

15. See Socrates who is written to have said this, as well as Epictetus.

16. See Humanist Manifestos I, II, and III and "A Secular Humanist Declaration" on the evaluation of ethics, and Chuang-Tzu for specific interpretations of lifestyle following knowledge of the workings of Tao.

17. See Chuang-Tzu, who said that virtue is a hill that we work together to climb. See also my own “Natural-Objective Ethics”.

18. See Chuang-Tzu, human rights, golden rule (Confuscious/Jesus/etc), 8 fold path, treatment of enemies (Jesus / Dalai Lama), Bushido, democracy/freedom, The Primary Virtues.

19. See Paul speaking about the fruit of ‘Holy Spirit’ entering a person (Galatians 5:22 and more). Not sharing his supernatural interpretation, I view this as an observation by Paul of character transformation. See also Stoics practice to form character; see Jesus talking about the law being in our hearts (Mark 7:14-23). Lastly, see the section called "What Karma Is" in my own A Naturalistic Approach to Buddhist Karma & Rebirth.

20. This is our conclusion, supported by argument throughout precepts 1-19.

Spiritual Transformation

1. Humanism and its Aspirations: Humanist Manifesto III. American Humanist Association, 2003.

2. Absent any glaring misbehaviors that would demonstrate one’s declared principles a lie, of course.

3. Discovering the practice-centered nature of ancient Greek philosophy would prepare me when I later began investigating Buddhism, and was similarly struck by its nature. Had I not come to Buddhism through the ancient Greek philosophers, I might have prematurely dismissed it, simplistically, as some Eastern parallel to Christian supernatural salvation.

4. Indeed, this is ‘going through the motions’ is often experienced by faith-based supernaturalists in their religions as well. There are many social pressures, expectations, family obligations, and simply the path of least resistance that results in the groggy pew sitter.

5. The Mulberry Path represents the results (so far) of my own exploration and experiment. Others may hopefully find usefulness in it as is, but they may also opt to utilize modifications or parts of it, or merely be inspired to find their own trails along our shared perennial path.

6. For Buddhists, the ideal is Buddhahood - the fully awakened or enlightened one. In Stoicism, the Sage is the perfect practitioner. In the former case, Buddhists often view the Buddha as fully awakened. In the latter case, there has been debate over which Stoic figures were Sages. For modern naturalists, the idea that any of these human beings were truly perfect in their enlightenment, insight, or practice is usually seen as highly unlikely. Though, perhaps some were ‘close enough’ to be very fine teachers and role models for us.

7. Buddhism provides such figures and models. There is the 

bodhisattva, a heroic figure of great compassion on the path to enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhists consider the arahant to be one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence but may not have yet reached full Buddhahood. 

In Stoicism, there is a notion that those who are not a Sage (perfect practitioner) are all the same, just as those who are 1 inch below the surface of the water and those who are 1 mile below are both drowning. This simile may have been designed to inspire a drive toward perfection, but it is not very practical for encouraging incremental practice, so I don’t favor the notion.

8. Astute readers may note that, even in the most empirical and scientific evidence-based measurements, the reading on a precise instrument or in a piece of collected datum will eventually come to a point of landing on an eyeball. And here, it will always end in the subjective experience of human scientists. This would seem to be a subjective experience being used to prove an objective fact, contrary to my statement.

However, if all of our steps between the subject and observer are rational and tested, and our logic valid, then taking this last tiny ‘leap’ is an exception consciously granted by the empiricist for the sake of pragmatism. For, to not do so would be to undermine any and all basis for the scientific endeavor, or even the common way we navigate the world. 

As I go on to show, it is only in the case of subjective claims that our first-person experimentation provides an iron-clad conclusion that does not depend on this exception. So, in the strictest of technical terms, subjective confirmation of subjective claims is even more reliable than the most empirical measurement possible of any external phenomenon.

9. Of course, with any claim about being “at peace”, it is advisable to clearly specify, in more concrete terms, what is meant by ‘peace’ in this instance.

10. The Socratic schools included the Cynics, Plato’s Academy, Aristotle’s Lyceum, and the Stoics. For me, this would chiefly center on the Stoics and the Dialogues of Plato. Though not Socratic schools, my focus also included the Pyrrhonists and Heraclitus.

11. I have had periods of falling out of various habits of practice from time to time over the years. When this has happened, I can usually ‘ride’ for a time without notice. But eventually, I begin to notice little shifts in the opposite direction. Perhaps I’m a little less patient, quicker to annoy, etc. Or maybe I find myself experiencing anger, becoming more vulnerable to loss, and so on. This too is a learning experience that confirms again the central importance of practice, and that there is never a point where you “get it” and are beyond such needs.

12. It is possible to get obsessed, distracted by, or overly attached to the feeling of profound experience. This kind of distraction is not ultimately helpful in our practice.

13. I have written an article, available at SNSociety.org, called “Embracing a Natural Life” which attempts to give the sense of what such experience is like.

14. “Grok” is a term from Robert Heinlein’s 1961 book, “Stranger in a Strange Land”. It means to understand intuitively or with empathy; to establish a rapport with, or communicate sympathetically with. It is a handy word for distinguishing between mere intellectual awareness and assent to something, and a much deeper kind of oneness with the truth of something.

15. Personality tests have a lot of questionable or debatable aspects to them. But for what it’s worth, I happen to have taken a Myers-Briggs personality test long before exploring these ideas and practices, and then taken another in more recent times. Before I tested as an INTJ and my life experience to that point seemed consistent with that result. After several years of contemplative practice, I would later test as an ENTP. And, while still “T”, I went from the extreme in that category to near borderline “F”. For those unfamiliar with the meaning of these codes, it basically meant that I was far less introverted, more open to spontaneity, and more in touch with my emotions. This result seemed to match changes in my life experience. While change is not at all impossible, these kinds of personality traits are generally seen as fairly stable, with such shifts being less common.

The Role of Science in Practice

1. As mentioned earlier, my view rejects the perspective of science and spirituality as “Non-Overlapping Magisteria” (NOMA). Further, as professor Joseph Campbell points out, one must know the proper use and misuse of myth. Mistaking this is another source of problems within modern religion. Conversely, while the integrity of the scientific method must be maintained, science without being guided by values and ethics (which ought to be informed by a healthy spirituality and religion) produces disastrous results.

But to say there is a place, means, and ends for science and religion is not to say that they cover separate domains. Rather, they cover the same domain (i.e. everything), but in different but overlapping ways, and for different but overlapping purposes. In fact, it is only the unhealthy and irrational state we find our major religions in today that make the idea of NOMA seem attractive or necessary. Were our religion to be based on a rational, healthy spirituality; then it would become clear that the entire endeavor of science itself is a religious act, taken for the same ultimate purpose: the alleviation of suffering and the betterment of humanity.

2. If complete or perfect knowledge were required for enlightenment, then we would never have any hope of approaching it because such a thing, in principle, is impossible. For one that holds an empirical or agnostic view of knowledge (i.e. requiring experience/evidence), being more enlightened is not about being all-knowing, but about having enlightening means. How we think, what we value, how we judge, and what methods do we use to determine what is true. Whatever degree of data we’ve collected is then a matter of the experience we’ve had up to now. But at least an enlightened person is not going to be compounding the difficulties of ignorance by adding self-delusion.