Supernatural Realm Research Articles

Metal in the Works of Vasilii Aksenov

Why has the search for a Soviet cultural mythology become so attractive to scholars East and West? The reasons are complex, and some have more to do with academic politics than with real advances in understanding. Nevertheless, much of Soviet reality-as constructed by both leadership and people-is better interpreted in terms of a shared cultural landscape of myths and symbols, than it is in terms of ideological systems. While Marxist ideology is unmatched for the scope of its rationalist worldview, the lacuna in its historical narrative are too conspicuous to be ignored even by ardent supporters. Leaps of faith across causal gaps demand a shift (whether conscious or unconscious) from logical exposition to a more poetic idiom. The prime example of such a gap is the one separating political and cultural revolution. When Marxism attempts to envision the actual course of events by which changes in economic conditions will lead to a change in human nature, it must resort to metaphor. Thus, the creation of the New Soviet Man is described in terms that evoke mythic archetypes: initiation, death and rebirth, apotheosis. The history of one especially prominent narrative of transformation be traced back for millennia. One finds it in Mexican creation myths, in the initiation rituals of Siberian shamans, in the religious folklore of medieval Europe, in the doctrines of both Occidental and Oriental alchemy, and throughout the symbolic lexicon of modern revolutionary movements. This is the myth of spiritual transubstantiation through metallization. Its archetypal motifs are as follows: a given metal, on the basis of its physical characteristics and the peculiarities of its extraction, is identified with the supernatural realm (or even with the flesh and bones of some divine being). Through the mediation of supernatural forces, mortal human bodies be treated by the methods used in the production of this metal, resulting in their union with the sacred element and their acquisition of its positive characteristics. The forging and tempering of human beings is a variant of the motif of initiation through ritual death and rebirth-and, in particular, that of purification by fire. Metal symbolism has thus been associated from primordial times with the universal revolutionary symbols of fire and light. Another factor explaining its attraction for the Russian revolutionaries stems from more recent history, and the split of the communists into hard Bolsheviks and soft Mensheviks, as manifested in pseudonyms such as those of Kamenev (kamen', stone), Molotov (molot, hammer), and-of course-Stalin (stal steel). Iron and steel provide the commonest epithets for the political firmness of Lenin's followers.2 The post-revolutionary economic role of these metals is reflected in their enhanced symbolic function, particularly with regard to the sacred triad of labour/warfare/suffering. Stalin's declaration that the Soviet Union can and must become a country of metal3 presumes the existence of a nation of ironjawed cadres ready to execute such a cataclysmic task. While traces of the flesh-to-metal narrative are present on every level of Soviet culture, it is, like any Bolshevik myth, rarely encountered in its explicit form. The great attraction of Marxism is its alleged scientific insight into the history and future of hitherto unanalyzable social phenomena. All that is reasonable in the human mind... will necessarily become reality, declares Plekhanov.4 This faith in the power of reason demands that Marxist ideology suppress any irrational elements, not excepting its own ruling myth-that of dialectical materialism as the antidote to all myths. Yet Marxism cannot survive without its myths and symbols, and its history is the ongoing record of their suppression and resurgence. The metallization of the body as a metaphor for the creation of the communist New Man has undergone several cycles of automatization and realization in the course of the twentieth century. …

"Letting God Govern": Supernatural Agency in the Venezuelan Pentecostal Approach to Social Change

Social scientists studying Pentecostalism in Latin America have argued that it is political in the identities, expectations, and social formations it creates; and that it could have important political consequences in the future. But do Pentecostals themselves think about their role in changing society? In this article I conceptualize the frame of Venezuelan Pentecostals and explore it using data from qualitative interviews. The results show that these Pentecostals see social problems as the result of wrong relations between humans and the supernatural realm. The solution therefore arises from religious action that seeks to order the relations between humans and the supernatural. This vision represents the common thread that runs through the type of involvement Pentecostals themselves propose, and the particular opportunities and dangers they see in common forms of secular social action. In the conclusion, I use this conceptualization to assess their future political impact.

The Lord of Hadaly's Rings: Regulating the Female Body in Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's "L'Eve future"

Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's negative position regarding progressand particularly its utilitarian application in the machine-turns on a deeply felt disdain for materialism, reason, and good sense. When his principal character, a famous scientist/engineer, creates a female android, it is because ce qui interesse l'auteur de L 'Eve future, c'est moins le progres scientifique et technique en soi, que perspectives qu'il ouvre a l'imagination.' In this way, science and engineering function as the metaphysical intermediaries between the real and the ideal, permitting the technical expert to pierce les voiles dont s'enveloppe le monde sensible, and reveal les puissances cachees dans l'infini.2 Here, through science's ability to probe and grasp nature's mysteries, Villiers's original resistance to its practical applications is defeated by science's greater epistemological promises. And yet the metaphor of penetrating or even of removing nature's veils points to the gender specificity of the quest for transcendence acquired through science and technology;' the imaginative processes involved in the decision to fabricate an artificial being revolve on its identity as a woman. It is at this moment that L 'Eve future (1886) joins other literary works from the nineteenth century that dramatize the effort to physically reproduce, if not an entire woman, then fragments of women.4 The proliferation of artificial women in these novels firmly situates the central debate ofL 'Eve future within a particular socio-historical configuration of woman disseminated during the last half of the nineteenth century. In that configuration, an active redefinition of woman's social role often gets entangled with the advent of a middle-class and industrial economy.' An imaginative link established between women and the rise of the bourgeoisie creates problems for the decadent claim that the sole beauty of science lies in its fantastic access to the supernatural realms that constitute natural and human reality. L 'Eve future presents a flawed female, a Bourgeois Goddess whose physical perfection is betrayed by her mental allegiance to that same good sense which represents progress, technology, and middle-class sensibilities. Literature, art, and philosophy, however, will transfer the mediocrity of modem times-initially revealed in the utilitarian machine---onto the female body, notably that of la bourgeoise.

El condenado por presumido: The Rhetoric of Death and Damnation in El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra

An examination of the rhetoric of death and damnation in Tirso's Burlador reveals that the play can be read as a dramatized homily about the natural and supernatural realms of God's justice, reflected in the work's natural and supernatural realms of action. Concerning the rhetoric of damnation, much traditional criticism about the Burlador has centered on whether Tirso adopts either a "Thomist" or "Molinist" position concerning the De auxiliis controversy; and on why, or even whether, Don Juan is consigned to hell. Such hermeneutic disputes can be resolved by recognizing that the protagonist is damned for presumption, which all orthodox theology of the period considered to be, like despair, a sin against the theological virtue of hope and, hence, an "unpardonable" sin against the Holy Spirit. As spelled out most systematically in Aquinas's Summa Theologiae , the theology of presumption acts as a referential code for the mechanism of Don Juan's damnation, and thus for Tirso's rendering of the supernatural (eternal) realm of God's justice. In the natural (temporal) realm of God's justice, the matching of "punishment" and "crime" holds equally for the protagonist and his victims. After discussing the crime and punishment of each victim in turn, this study examines how both realms of divine justice converge in the character of the protagonist. His sentence of death for his crimes against other human beings, together with his sentence of damnation for his sin against hope and the Holy Spirit, jointly dramatize the the play's central, "anagogical" theme: that a God who is at once just and merciful exacts from any infraction of either the temporal or eternal order a terrible, fitting price. Lastly, the theological position put forth in Tirso's homiletic play is shown to stand outside the academic debate between "Thomists" and "Molinists" about grace and free will.

The Fairy Bride Legend in Wales

ON a recent visit to a Cardiff bookshop specialising in Welsh publications, the writer of the present article counted eleven different published versions of the story of the fairy from Llyn Y Fan Fach. The tale, which first appeared in print in the nineteenth century, tells the story of a fairy woman from the depths of Llyn y Fan Fach in Carmarthenshire who married a mortal. She returned to her supernatural realm when her husband violated conditions she herself had laid down, but her children became the famous doctor-magicians, the Physicians of Myddfai.' The published versions, both Welsh and English, currently gracing the shelves of the bookshop at the time of this little ad hoc field exercise all contained suitably romantic illustrations ' la Arthur Rackham. The tale has become firmly fixed in the canon of 'Welsh folktales'. Somehow it seems so typically Welsh with its otherworld fairy bride, poignant sense of lost love, and its doctor-magician sons. Very few printed collections of 'Welsh Folktales' are without it, which presents the interesting situation, in regards to the variant associated with Llyn Y Fan Fach, of a Welsh tale having to be translated back into its original language.2 Print is of course the important word. The Llyn y Fan Fach story appeared in 1861 in the introduction to The Physicians of Myddfai which contained a translation of the medical texts associated with this family and an introduction containing a long, printed English version of the tale.3 This is the first time this story of an otherworld bride was attached to the quite genuine, but presumably independent, traditions and medieval medical texts associated with this family of famous physicians.4 The printed version is long, and rather over-written. The lake lady's hair 'flows gracefully in ringlets over her shoulders ... whilst the glassy surface of her watery couch served for the purpose of a mirror'. The sun 'gilds with its rays the peaks of the Fan' and the young man vainly 'strains his eyeballs' over the lake looking for the 'enchanting vision'.5 Although the elements of the tale are probably genuine and were collected by the Welsh publisher and antiquary William Rees, native of Tonn, which is not far from Llyn Y Fan Fach, the version is given here in English. Once again the Celtic Twilight seems about to cast its roseate and distorting glow on the folklore itself. Fortunately Llyn y Fan Fach is not the only source for information about the Welsh Lake Lady. About three dozen variants of the tale dating from the tenth to the twentieth century are known, and the very fact that the tale has attained such a curious, almost icon-like status, tells us much about perceptions of Welsh tradition in and outside Wales. The study of folklore is not simply a matter of disentangling the purely oral from the literary and fictitious. The strands intertwine, and despite the comparatively small numbers, the Welsh versions of the Otherworld Bride allow us to chart the development of the tale in a changing cultural context. The tale is part of a widely distributed supernatural legend tradition in which an otherworld woman marries a mortal, but eventually returns to her world leaving him and their children. The tale is widespread, particularly in northern and western European countries where the woman is sometimes in animal form and the loss and recovery of her animal skin motivate her marriage and return. Sometimes she

Visions of excess and excesses of vision: Women and transgression in Japanese myth

A persistent problem for historians of Japanese religions has been proper identification and definition of Other World, a realm beyond ordinary experience that is also thought to be abode of kami and, occasionally, of dead as well. Despite fact that Japanese tradition uses several names to refer to that experiential zone, most scholars conceive of it as a single entity and thus contribute to a confusion that has continued unabated to this day. It does not take wild flights of imagination to suspect that Japanese scholars themselves might be under Western academic and/or religious influences when they use term takai (other world) to refer globally to three supernatural realms (namely, Yomi no kuni, the land of darkness, Takamagahara the high heavenly plain, and Tokoyo, the permanent realm) that are mentioned in myths. Although vague or simplistic distinctions are made at times, designations are almost always conflated in a single category. In all cases, however, scholars fail to provide sophisticated interpretations of terms. Even Carmen BLACKER conceives of other world as a single realm; while recognizing topic's importance, since she devotes a chapter to it in her book on Japanese shamanism, she offers little solace:

The vidente phenomenon in third world traditional healing: an Amazonian example.

This article examines the vidente, or seer phenomenon in the Peruvian Amazon city of Pucallpa, Peru, where fieldwork was conducted in 1977 and 1979. With the discovery of natural opiate-like substances in the body, called endorphins, researchers in the brain sciences were intrigued by man's ability to create his own opiate-like response to pain, ecstacy and stress. Paranormal phenomena, often called psi, are believed to occur by large numbers of people. Close work was done with an urban healer, don Hilde, who used the plant hallucinogen, ayahuasca, for many yers. The healing milieu, present background information on Pucallpa City, don Hilde's biography and his activities as a vidente in connection with his hallucinogen use are described. Don Hilde's relationship with a mystical-philosophical organization and its influence on his paranormal activities and patient interactions are examined. The single most important function of plant hallucinogens in the Amazon area is to divine the future. Ayahuasca is used to treat magical illness in Iquitos and Pucallpa where illness is believed to have a mother spirit. The patients sit in a cirlce in rain forest clearings where they all drink the drug, believing the plant's spirit enters them. Healers like don Hilde are sought out by patients because of reputed vidente qualities and abilities as seers and because, on the daily level of interaction, their abilities are reaffirmed. In this case study, the healer derives a long shamanic healing tradition where he used plant hallucinogen drugs. He entered into organized mystical activities to enhance his personal power and to intensify his access to altered states of consciousness. Access to the supernatural realm is important to both the healer and the client in harnessing the source of divinity.

Toward a Broader Perspective in the Evolutionism-Creationism Debate

Conflict between evolutionists and creationists is examined in the context of philosophy using several ontological models in which reality is assigned to one or both of two realms: (1) a natural realm of physical reality containing that which is amenable to analysis by the scientific method and (2) a transnatural (supernatural) realm of metaphysical reality the contents of which are not amenable to analysis by the scientific method. All of the models deal primarily with cosmology, geologic time and planetary evolution, biopoesis, and organic evolution. Six models span a wide conceptual range: theistic-teleological dualism; deisticmechanistic dualism; fundamentalist creationism (dualistic); atheistic monism, theistic (metaphysical) monism; mechanistic monism (naturalistic materialism). Although an argument can be made for the required teaching of these and other ontological models along with mechanistic evolution, the clearest solution in accordance with the First Amendment is to exclude the transnatural r...

Plant Hallucinogens and the religion of the Mochica—an ancient Peruvian people

This article has attempted to reinterpret a now extinct prehistoric people, the Mochica of Peru, in light of our knowledge of contemporary regional hallucinogenic use. An analysis of Mochica pottery motifs suggests the use of a variety of plant hallucinogens which may have permitted access to supernatural realms. I have argued that studies such as this of prehistoric peoples show the central role that hallucinogenic plants have had throughout time and present a new path to the understanding of prehistoric religions.

Dewey on Science and Religion

DEWEY ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION ( ( IT IS MORE OR less of a commonplace," wrote John Dewey, " to speak of the crisis which has been caused by the progress of the natural sciences. . . . The crisis is due . . . to the incompatibility between the conclusions of natural science ... and the realm of higher values." 1 Modem science has, in other words, helped to create " the standing problem of modern philosophy": the relation of science to supernatural religion.2 In the following pages I will attempt to explain and to criticize John Dewey's resolution of the popular conflict between science and religion. This discussion will focus primarily on Dewey's philosophy of religion and will consist of four parts: a brief summary of Dewey's views on science and religion, a consideration of his contributions to the philosophy of religion, an analysis of four main assumptions latent in Dewey's humanistic naturalism, and an investigation of three critical questions which seem to be left unanswered by his resolution of the dichotomy existing between science and religion. I Dewey's views on science and religion may perhaps best be summarized in terms of three theses: (1) that the denial of supernatural religion and of the existence of a transcendent being (God) is necessary for the continuity of, and continuous progress within, the natural world; (2) that this denial is the valid result of an application of the scientific method to all realms of experience; and (3) that, once delivered from super1 The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action (New York, 19~9), p. 40. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Quut. • Ibid., pp. 41, 103. See also Dewey, Reconstruction in Philosophy (New York, 19~0), pp. 173, ~11. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Reconstruction. 658 DEWEY ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION 659 natural religion, man can divest himself of his spectator attitude which encourages desertion from human responsibilities. Since he maintains that the existence of a transcendent being (God) and of a supernatural realm of values neither has any factual basis nor is capable of unambiguous interpretation,3 Dewey concludes that man's supposed belief in God and in supernatural values should be reinterpreted according to a "purely naturalistic explanation" of human actions and events.4 Not only is there no factual basis, according to Dewey, for positing the supernatural realm, but the consequences of belief in anything tanscendent are also detrimental to mankind. Such beliefs, he maintains, are grounded in fear and arise from the false supposition that " the heart of man is totally corrupt ." 5 Hence such beliefs " must weaken and sap the force of the possibilities" inherent in men themselves,6 since they force men into the roles of corrupt and passive pawns moved by an omniscient and omnipotent God. After arguing that a denial of supernatural entities and values is essential to a high valuation of nature (thesis (1)), Dewey argues (thesis (2)) that this denial is the result of the valid application of the scientific method to all realms of experience.7 This scientific or experimental method is characterized by open or public inquiry and discovery, such that "validation [and] demonstration become experimental, a matter of consequences." 8 In other words, the hallmark of this scientific approach is the examination both of the conditions for the occurrence of specific situations and of the consequences of possible courses of action. Moreover, since " modern science no longer tries to find some fixed form or essence behind each process of change," a proponent of (Dewey's) scientific method " tries to break down apparent fixities and to induce changes." 9 3 Dewey, A Common Faith (London, 1934), pp. 2-8. Hereafter cited as: Dewey, Faith. • Ibid., p. 13. 5 Ibid., p. 5. See also p. 46. • Ibid., p. 27. 7 Ibid., pp. 11, 31, 33-34, 38-39. 8 Dewey, Reconstruction, p. 174. See also Dewey, Faith, p. 39. 9 Ibid., p. 113. 660 KRISTIN SHRADER He tries, that is, to destroy all " reliance upon precedent, upon institutions created in the past, ... upon unexamined customs, upon uncriticized tradition," so as to critically evaluate the consequences of past beliefs and therefore modify them in order to insure future consequences which are beneficial...

Heidegger, Revelation, and the Word of God

Previous articleNext article No AccessHeidegger, Revelation, and the Word of GodPeter C. HodgsonPeter C. Hodgson Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 49, Number 3Jul., 1969 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/486174 Views: 64Total views on this site Copyright 1969 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Meaning as Behavior

Meanings have an empirical genesis and status. This simple claim has often been denied or ignored. Some metaphysicians in their exaltation of the eternal have regarded meanings as essences, or eternal objects, or neutral entities, in a subsistential or supernatural realm that is changeless and has no roots in nature. Some logicians in their zest to manipulate meanings isolate them so completely as forms of reason, or as syntactical symbols that at no point is their connection with natural events made intelligible. Yet meanings, all meanings, have relation to mind. It is this empirical, psychological aspect of meaning that I shall analyze. The larger philosophic question as to what the relation of the psychological aspect is to the metaphysical or the logical will not concern us except indirectly.