HAVERFORD C O L L E G E Department of Philosophy

The Evolutionary Significance of Rupert Sheldrake’s Science Set Free

The Science Delusion

Ashok GangadeanMargaret Gest Professor of Global Philosophy

With the recent appearance of his latest book, Science Set Free, I invited Rupert Sheldrake to return to our Global Philosophy Forum here at Haverford College to give a keynote presentation in celebration of his book and his pioneering lifework. Our ((Forum)), which focuses on Making Sense of our Evolutionary Shift: Science and Philosophy in Quest of the Unified Field, has been continuous for over fifteen years bringing leading voices at this frontier of inquiry to public conversation. Rupert’s earlier visit in 2005 was a stunning success and his recent presentation of Science Set Free built on his earlier visit and ignited dialogue at an even deeper level.

In the wake of our Forum event certain insights concerning the evolutionary significance of Science Set Free came into focus and I feel moved to reflect on this now.

First, it is clear that this latest book builds on his earlier important works and is an integral outgrowth of his lifework which dilates the space of open scientific inquiry into a range of phenomena. The heart of Science Set Free focuses on bringing to light that the predominant “scientific worldview” is lodged in dogmatism, ideology and uncritically held assumptions. He says in his Introduction, “In this book, I argue that science is being held back by centuries-old assumptions that have hardened into dogmas. The sciences would be better off without them: freer, more interesting and more fun”.

He continues, “Contemporary science is based on the claim that all reality is material or physical. There is no reality but material reality. Consciousness is a by-product of the physical activity of the brain. Matter is unconscious. Evolution is purposeless…” Sheldrake brings to light that the worldview of scientific materialism is a “scientific creed” and he suggests that “the belief system that governs conventional scientific thinking is an act of faith, grounded in a nineteenth century ideology”. He rightly affirms that science is not a “belief system” but a long evolving method of rational inquiry that flows with open minded critical thinking beyond dogmatic beliefs or creeds. In this respect Sheldrake’s life in science is passionate about rigorously advancing scientific inquiry beyond dogma and ideology. He says, “This book is pro-science. I want the sciences to be less dogmatic and more scientific. I believe that the sciences will be regenerated when they are liberated from the dogmas that constrict them”.

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I couldn’t agree more with Sheldrake’s evolutionary insight into the advancement of our scientific enterprise. What we value most in the breakthrough of scientific method is this very Rational Ethos of open minded critical inquiry that is not stifled by dogma and ideology. In making a decisive case that the dominant culture of scientific practice is fixated on a particular “worldview” and “belief system”- “scientific materialism” – and lodged in ideology and uncritically held dogmas that block, stifle, repress and compromise open scientific inquiry into Reality he takes a clear step towards liberating scientific literacy and setting science free.

And since in our current cultural attitudes “science” is revered as, perhaps, the foremost method of open inquiry and critical thinking in our common quest for Knowledge and Truth it is, indeed, a stunning disclosure to realize that the dominant culture of science labors under the sway of ideology and dogma. If this be so, what does this say about the rational quality of our cultural life in general and across the board?

Could it be that our cultural life in general – personal, inter-personal, religious, political, educational… – is likewise lodged in dogma, ideology and uncritical thinking? What is “dogma”? What is “ideology”? What makes any enterprise (scientific, political, religious, educational…) dogmatic, ideological, closed minded prejudiced, uncritical, egomental…? It is my judgment, in the light of Global Wisdom, that Sheldrake’s finding about the current state of scientific development exposes a generic symptom that pervades our cultures at large so it is of the utmost importance to pause and take a deeper critical look at the generic source of dogmatic and ideological mental practices.

We shall now see that over the centuries, indeed, over millennia, our rational enterprise has been in an evolutionary maturation beyond dogma and ideology and local tribalism in worldviews. As Reason and Literacy mature our methods and standards of open critical rational inquiry in all aspects of cultural life dilate and upgrade to higher Literacy. In this evolutionary drama it becomes clear in long-range efforts across the planet that Human Reason is essentially global in power and scope, and is beyond ideology, dogma , prejudice, tribal localism, fundamentalism and subjectivism in worldview.

Thus, if our “scientific enterprise” is found to be “monocentric” or “egomental” or “tribal” or “logocentric” in its “rational practices”, in its mental disposition concerning its preferred “worldview”, “paradigm”, “conceptual framework” or “theoretical ideology”…then it, too, would be “infected” with ontological malpractice, mental dysfunction and uncritical tribal “literacy”.

As we now, briefly, reflect on certain astounding disclosures in a hitherto eclipsed global evolutionary drama in the maturation of our rational enterprise it comes into focus that the current dominant culture of “science” is, indeed, lodged in chronic dynamics of ideological and dogmatic mentation.

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The Evolutionary Significance of Science Set FreeI’d like to focus now on what for me is the evolutionary significance of Sheldrake’s book and pioneering work in Science.

So let’s step back a moment and reflect on what has come to light in the missing Global Evolutionary Drama of the Emergence of Logos.

The Global Emergence of LogosIn my own evolutionary journey over the past five decades as a Logician (Science of Reason, transformative laws of reason, thought and consciousness), Ontologist (the grammar of reality, world formation, worldviews), Philosopher (explorations of global wisdom across the planet over millennia), Philosopher of Language (the origin and evolutionary emergence of language, and dialogue across and between diverse worlds, communication and evolutionary literacy across cultures and ideologies)…I was led inexorably into an emergent evolutionary drama of the maturation of our human species: of rational life, of literacy and language power, of consciousness capacities, of emergent integral intelligence…. It became clear that we humans have been in the midst of an amazing evolutionary development that could only be encountered through the dilation of our global lens, global reason, global script power and global literacy.

Most of us are not sufficiently aware that throughout our lives we develop a “personal cultural lens” of the mind that both conditions and allows our world or living realities to appear in our experience. Of course this “lens” can be, and often is, complex and cultivated to process multiple diverse worlds, cultures, ideologies and forms of life. Nevertheless, even in this kaleidoscopic multiplicity of lens power most of us live our lives, both personal and professional, uncritically lodged within the relatively local and “tribal” literacy of our worldview, culture, discipline or ideology practice.

And our evolution of Rationality (mental capacity), Literacy (language capacity) and Global Ontology (entering and negotiating the Primal Source of diverse worlds, the global space across and between widely diverse worlds) makes clear that widely variant cultures or grammars of reality are often worlds apart: what makes sense in one world often fails to make sense in another. Our diverse worldviews, lifeworlds, cultures, religions, ideologies, conceptual paradigms… appear to be incommensurable and deeply at odds. It is only when we are able in this evolutionary drama to dilate our heartminds and rational lens power into the global rational space between worlds that we are able to make sense of things in this Global Light.

If and when we are able to dilate mindspace (and script power) and get some critical distance from privileging our own deeply entrenched and self privileging mental lens, and dare to cross into this more inclusive global common rational ground between worlds, astounding new findings in our rational capacities, cognitive and literacy powers come to the fore. So let us pause in this highly compressed review to gain a sense of these evolutionary breakthroughs.

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Some Astounding Evolutionary AdvancesWhen we stand back from our personal mental “lens” and dilate space into the global rational space across and between worlds, cultures, traditions and ideologies it is immediately striking that our great wisdom traditions across the planet through the ages converge on a consensus that there is and must be a Primal First Force, Field, Energy, Domain, Source… that is ever present and Infinite in scope and power.

The Primary Energy-Field Presides in Every MomentThis Infinite Field of Presence, by whatever primal “name” we may use (Tao, Yahweh, Logos, Aum, Brahman, Buddha Nature or Emptiness, God, Christ, Allah, Energy, the Universe, Reality…) embodies and manifests the Primal Infinite Force/Source. This Presence is “First” (in every sense) and it can only be (must be) Infinite (non-finite), hence, as such, it must be infinitely present, ever presiding and pervading every possibility, every breath…from the micro to the macro dimensions. Reality is thus a Continuum of Infinite Connectivity. We shall see in a moment that this Primal Force constituting The Universe is the generative source of all realities, worlds, phenomena, cultures, disciplines and forms of life. Any credible narrative of our evolutionary journey, indeed, of the evolutionary process of Reality, including the evolution of Reason, Language, Literacy, Consciousness, Cognition and cultural life…must come to terms with this ever-presiding Primal Force. This Infinite Force of Presence is at once the originating Source and the guiding light that moves and presides in all events.

As Consciousness Evolves our Language (Script) Power Co-EvolvesAn equally astounding consensus disclosure of global wisdom (First Philosophy) through the ages is that as our Rational capacities evolve and mature our Language power (the voltage of our Literacy and Script power) co-evolve and co-dilate together. Our great traditions of First Philosophy concur that we humans ARE as we Mind: – our living realities (life worlds, cultures, religions, disciplines – are a direct function of how we are using our minds- our “mentation” practices. And the striking finding here is that a dominant evolutionary stage of cultural literacy and mentation practice which we may call “monocentric” or “logocentric” or “egomental” is not evolved sufficiently to adequately encounter the Holistic Force-Field of Reality.

Our great Wisdom (Literacy) traditions have unfolded over the centuries in amazing experimental dramas- virtual experimental laboratories of research and development. For when we stand back and enter this global rational space it is striking that these diverse strands of experimental research gravitate to the consensus finding that our human evolutionary journey is nothing less than a profound dimensional shift from a “monocentric” stage of development to a more mature Holistic and Integral technology of mental processing and literacy (script) power.

Whether we follow the trail from the Judaic Biblical origins, through the innovations of Jesus and trace the remarkable unfolding through the centuries into the emergence of Quaker Wisdom, or follow our classical Greek Logos drama from Socrates (Plato, Aristotle) through the centuries into the 21st Century, or again witness the unfolding of

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the Vedic (Aum, Yoga, Vedanta) traditions in their unfolding from the Gita through Aurobindo in the 20th Century, or again follow the evolutionary development of Buddha’s breakthrough from Nagarjuna through the amazing unfolding in the emergence of Zen (Japanese Kyoto School) in the 20 th Century; or the unfolding of Islam over the centuries through Rumi and Sufi Wisdom; or, again the evolutionary unfolding of discourse of the Tao over the centuries….through these exemplar experimental laboratories of research and inquiry into What-is-First we find the striking disclosure that “monocentric” or egomental mentation and literacy are in some profound sense cut off from significant Encounters of the First Kind.

The enormous consensus weight of our great research and development traditions seen in a Global Light in diverse ways recognize that our egomental stage of evolutionary development, as vital as it may be in our evolutionary journey, cuts us off from authentic encounter of the ever-present Field of Reality, with What-is-First, ever presiding, with Infinite Presence. Indeed, this global wisdom consensus finds that our monocentric (or egomental) stage of evolutionary development- an adolescent stage of rational, consciousness, cognitive and literacy development – is itself a primary cause of wide-ranging human personal and cultural dysfunctions.

By contrast, these great evolving wisdom laboratory journeys focus in diverse ways on prescribing a fundamental dimensional shift in our rational and literacy practices – a vital “upgrade” in our mentation practices that comes with the dilation of our “Word” (Language, Literacy) Power from egomental “word” (rationality, literacy) to Integral (Holistic=Dialogic) Word Power and Rational processing.

This evolutionary shift is seen as all-important in our great Wisdom traditions for our human well being, for our individual and collective flourishing.

Perhaps a distilled simplified way to put this evolutionary shift is: from monocentric or egomental “I===It” literacy to the more developed and potent Holistic “I===Thou” dimension of Integral Literacy in the encounter with What-is-First, the Field of Reality.

What is striking, perhaps tragic, in our human journey through the ages is that despite the urgent call of our Wisdom teachings to “up-script” and advance from “I==It” cultural life and literacy to “I===Thou” dilated (or rationally awakened) Literacy, there nevertheless remains a deeply entrenched tendency to hold on to the pre-mature monocentric, “I===It” stage of rational and cultural literacy, and to “download” or “down-script” the higher Wisdom teachings or Scripts into the primary, dominant, monocentric stage of rational literacy.

This unconscious (pre-conscious, unwitting) self privileging of the “I===It” stage of rational development, literacy and culture making has systematically eclipsed, repressed, deformed or distorted the urgent call across the planet, through the ages, to leave the “monocentric script” and to cross higher into the awakened Rational Light, into the higher power Word Technology, to evolve individually and as a species from the dimension of “monologue” to the Dimension of “Dialogue”. This evolutionary

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imperative is perhaps the most important factor facing our human condition. Our Welfare, Well Being, Thriving, Cognitive Development…turn on this. Our evolutionary advance in Rational life, (in Moral-Political life, in Cognitive-Scientific life, in Empirical capacities) turns on making this Dimensional shift in our mentation and script technologies.

So why has it been so chronically difficult to make this urgent evolutionary shift in mentation, script and literacy? Why does the “I===It” stage of rational and language development seem to hold us captive and neutralize the powerful “wisdom”, awakening medicine, that has been urgently brought to the people over millennia? Why is it so challenging to make a dimensional shift to the “I===Thou” evolutionary upgrade?

One striking theme that emerges in the Global Light is that the “monocentric” (egomental) stage of rational and literacy development blocks the healthful maturation of our species to a more advanced form of rational intelligence, cultural literacy, moral and spiritual awakening…in the encounter of the Field of Reality. We shall now see that monocentric “rationality” is found to be the very source of widespread ideology and dogma. The monocentric mind (stage of rational life) brings with it cognitive impairment, close-minded “inquiry”, ontological fundamentalism, subjectivism, and is the root of dogmatic and ideological patterns of life, culture and impaired “inquiry”.

For me, this is where I locate the evolutionary significance of Sheldrake’s finding that there is a “science delusion”, that the current dominant culture of “science” is lodged in dogma and ideological mentation. I suggest that the source of these dysfunctions in dominant scientific practices is in the level of monocentric literacy and rationality itself. Indeed, I suggest that any form of cultural life that is dominated by such monocentric (egomental) patterns of “rational” discourse equally suffers from the fore-closure of mind, rationality and inquiry. So it is all-important to find a creative way to bring into the open this vital evolutionary shift from a culture of monologue to a Culture of Dialogue and Holistic Mentation.

Introducing Evolutionary Markers to Bring the Dimensional Shift from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) to the ForeLets take a deeper look, then, at this all-important evolutionary shift in rational life from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)). I suggest that the primary reason for the chronic entrenchment within the “I===It” monologue stage of rational (human) development is the pre-critical conflation and chaotic inter-twining of the two dimensions of Rational (Literacy) development. There is a natural evolutionary “lag” or counter-productive “conservatism” and developmental inertia of the “status quo”. And in my evolutionary journey over decades I found it imperative to “de-conflate” these two stages of rational script (literacy) by introducing “Dimensional Markers” to make explicit the dimensional distinction between these two stages of development, and to clarify their intimate relations.

Our breakthrough in designing and introducing such ((evolutionary markers)) to assist us in clarifying and making explicit this all-important ((dimensional)) shift from

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/monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) has been developed in great detail and published in diverse contexts over the past two decades. On this occasion I shall present in highly summary form certain highlights of this research finding.

Key Highlights in Clarifying the Shift from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)):1) As I pioneered the frontier of Global First Philosophy over decades as a Logician, Ontologist, Philosopher of Language and Deep-Dialogue across widely variant first philosophies and wisdom traditions it was clear that diverse narratives converged on the consensus that there is and must be a Primal Force that is Infinite which presides in every pulse of life and existence.

2) These diverse teachings, which evolved through the ages, were so diverse and presented in such diverse languages, cultural forms and traditions that the Global Rational Space incorporating them and holding them together was far from adequately developed, civilized and cultivated. In this uncharted frontier it was not at first clear that our major diverse first narratives and scriptural traditions were alternative expressions of a primal global first philosophy which recognized that there is (and must be) one Infinite Primal Force-field by whatever “name” is used to honor it, whatever language, culture, tradition presents it.

Whether, for example, such Primal Names as Tao, Aum, Yahweh, Sunyata, God, Infinite Spirit, Logos, Brahman, Allah, Buddha Nature, Christ, Primal Energy, First Cause, The Universe, Infinite Substance, Being, The Word, Reality…are used to name “It”, it becomes evident in the global light of Reason that these must be “holonyms” for this Primal Force. Thus, no adequate or coherent “global philosophy” (logic, ontology, discourse…) had emerged to discern any “consensus” or “common ground” or “common script” or “global axioms” across and between these alternative “first narratives”.

3) The emergence of Global First Philosophy is itself an evolutionary development. It is in this dilated rational space that the Global Light of Reason across worlds, narratives, disciplines and traditions becomes manifest. In this Global Light it is evident that widely diverse first narratives are alternative quests to bring to Light a missing primal grammar, logic, script…of What-is-First. As this missing Global Script comes to light we are able to see clearly for the first time striking disclosures, primal patterns and dynamics, profound missing links, latent consensus and common ground across widely variant narrative forms of life.

4) Perhaps the most striking disclosure in this Global Light of Reason is that no truly “Global Name” for the Infinite First had yet emerged, and the missing Global Grammar was yet to come to Light in the midst of the powerful local and localizing forces of the diverse and widely scattered first narratives. Nevertheless, over decades of steady research and explorations in this emergent frontier it became clear that the perennial quests for the missing Grammar of the Infinite First converged on astounding findings.

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The Infinite First must be Infinitely One, hence overflowing with Infinite Diversity-in-Unity. This Primal Field of Reality is thus a boundless Field of Infinite Connectivity. Nothing can stand apart from this Infinite Force, and it cannot be divided or fragmented. This Force must be the Originating Source of all possible worlds, languages, scripts, disciplines, cultures, events, scriptures, religions, perspectives, worldviews, disciplines, evolutionary narratives, forms of life…Rigorous explorations of the Infinite First reveals that this Primal Force must be Infinitely Here and Now in every breath, every event, every pulse of life and experience. What-is-First must be Infinite Presence.

5) What is striking in this Global Light is that diverse First Narratives across the planet, through the ages, recognized in their diverse ways that the evolutionary development of rational discourse, language power, script technology, human literacy and culture making were still in an adolescent stage and needed to evolve and mature to adequately encounter the Field of Reality. Whether in the challenges faced by Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohamed in pioneering the “script” to encounter, recognize, honor and prioritize the Infinite First, whether in the breakthroughs of the Vedic Yoga Sciences and Meditative Technologies to open the Script to the Primal Presence, or the pioneering findings of Lord Buddha in his remarkable enlightenment to the Buddha Field of Infinite Emptiness, or again the pioneering queries into the Logos by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle…to mention a few global exemplars, it is clear that the literacy development of humanity at large fell short of the technology of consciousness and literacy essential for appropriately engaging the Infinite Presence.

6) The urgency of the call of these diverse heroic pioneers is evident. They recognized in diverse ways that the level of Word Power, Literacy, Consciousness awakening, Cognitive voltage, Rational intelligence… essential to appropriately engage Infinite Presence – The Field of Reality – was significantly beyond the level of development at large in the surrounding culture. For example, the entire Dialogue between Lord Kirshna and Arjuna, the broken warrior, in the Gita centers on this theme. Arjuna’s worldview as a warrior implodes in a life crisis on the battlefield as he enters a fratricidal war. As he releases his weapon he turns to Krishna, his charioteer (the Voice of AUM), for help. The entire flow of the classic script centers on Krishna introducing Arjuna to the Yoga Science/Technology – the higher Literacy of the AUM Script. Arjuna in this life crisis is finally ready to learn that his level of mental processing, his “egomental script” is not only inherently inadequate to negotiate the AUM sphere, but is actually the direct cause of his dysfunction and broken life.

In a very different context and narrative space Jesus teaches his disciples that He is Living Script, Logos in the Flesh. He realizes that the Law of Love must be Lived in the “Heart” and not “written in stone”. He sees that the literacy and script of his disciples and the surrounding culture are lodged in the condition of “sin” – ontological severance from What-is-First, from Infinite Presence, and he gives his Life to help his fellow humans make the all-important crossing to a higher form of Christ Literacy, Christ Consciousness, in living the “I-Thou” Moral Law of Love. Everything turns for us in making this evolutionary shift from the script of “sin” to the Living Word of Christ.

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The essence of Buddha’s global breakthrough, again in a different narrative context, his Four Noble (Global) Truths is a medical scientific disclosure of the highest order. Buddha’s “Enlightenment” as a Deep Ontologist finds the source of human existential suffering in the “egomental” patterns of consciousness and literacy dominant in the surrounding culture. His Four Axioms diagnose the deep cause of human suffering inscribed in our mentation patterns which humans are addicted to in a naïve logic of identity, objectification, dualistic fragmentation and atomic identity formation.

His Second Axiom locates the source of our dysfunction and suffering in our evolutionary addiction to the egomental literacy of naïve identity. His Third Axiom is that we have a choice in our Literacy and Rational Form of Life- we need not be addicted to the dysfunctional literacy of egomental patterns. And his Fourth Axiom is his Prescription for this onto-medical condition: we can rehabilitate our Literacy and emancipate our bondage to egomentalism through a rigorous practice of Mindfulness (in every breath, in every aspect of life and experience). This Meditative Technology brings a more evolved Form of Life in the BuddhaField –the Field of Infinite Emptiness- where we mature in our Human Form, awaken in Moral and Rational Consciousness and thrive in the Buddha Literacy.

The historic example of Socrates, a Moral Hero for Europe, speaks volumes in echoing this shift out of the “cave” mentality into the Light of Logos. Socrates gives his life for this call to humans, as Rational Beings, to break free from the “cave life”, the bound literacy of attachment to “objects of our sense empirical experience” into the Field of Forms – the universal Light of Reason. Socrates confronted and exposed the “Sophists”, the pseudo-philosophers, who alleged to teach “Wisdom” but who, when cross-examined in rational (dialogue) critique, were exposed as not in touch with the Logos, the ground and foundation of Reason, Knowledge and Truth. Socrates was thought to be the “wisest of men” in his cultural context because he knew that what was alleged to be “wisdom” (science) was lodged in dogma, ideology, subjectivism (opinion) and ignorance of Logos.

What is striking in these diverse examples is that they concur that the Literacy of What-is-First, of the Field of Reality, calls upon us to evolve and mature into a higher form of Literacy, Mentation and Script Power beyond our adolescent monocentric (egomental) script and literacy that objectifies and artificially packages all it touches. There is a common finding that our diverse human personal and cultural dysfunctions and existential pathologies directly stem from this pre-mature level of mentation and literacy in our encounters with Presence (Infinite First). It is a matter of Life and death to become aware of this and to mature into a higher form of Rational Awakened Life and Literacy.

If this be so, we must ask: in the light of these great teachings, available for centuries, why is it that our human cultures appear to continue to be dominated by monocentric/egomental patterns of mentation, literacy and culture making?

Could it be that we continue to this day to be ensnared within such dysfunctional mental and literacy (mal)pratices? Could it be that our dominant forms of literacy and mentation

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continue to be “monocentric” and inherently infected with Rational closure, patterns of ideological and dogmatic mentation and “I-It” objectification?

Urgent Need for Evolutionary Markers: /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue))Over decades as I explored the depth of the missing Grammar of Presence (the Global Logic of the Primal Field) I began to see striking patterns of logic, literacy and mentation patterns in the life of the people across all borders. As I entered the Global Light of Reason it became increasingly clear that our diverse First Teachers were zeroing in on a pervasive “deep structure” in human evolutionary cultural development – chronically entrenched patterns in literacy practices, mentation dynamics and rational-cognitive processes- that urgently needed to be named, explicitly marked and brought to Light.

I began to see across our great First Teachings and Scriptures that there was a consensus call to a more evolved form of “I Thou” script, mentation and literacy voltage in the authentic encounter with the Field of Reality. My decades of research in the dynamics of Deep-Dialogue and Open Critical Inquiry across and between diverse worlds and wisdom traditions revealed that there was an urgent need to recognize the divisive ways of “monologue” and a consensus call to rise individually and collectively to a more mature form of Rational competence, awakened holistic Literacy in the Art of being Human, in Rational-Moral Consciousness, in Holistic-Integral Cognitive development and sustainable cultural practices.

In my teaching practice over decades, in helping student negotiate classic wisdom and enlightenment texts I found it essential to introduce innovative “dimensional markers” to make fully explicit the Holistic Literacy of Dialogue Rationality in its interplay with the egomental or monocentric (logocentric) literacy and mentation that continue to dominate our personal and cultural lives on a planetary scale.

/Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)): Dimensional MarkersI introduced “single strokes” (also called “single brackets”)- /X/ to mark when thought, language, script, mentation, rationality are lodged in /monocentric/ “I===It” space, and I used “double brackets”- ((X)) to mark when we make the crossing into the more evolved ((Integral, Holistic, Dialogic: I===Thou Literacy)). The difference and relation between these two contrasting “dimensions” of literacy and mental processing will be clarified in what follows.

In the experimental lab of my ongoing teaching over decades, and in my public presentations around the globe in widely diverse contexts, the students and audiences found these inter-dimensional markers to be enormously effective and essential in de-coding our great teachings and scriptures.

Thus, to de-code ((Buddha))’s teaching it is vital to see that ((Buddha’s Script)) is spoken from the ((Buddha Space)), the ((Field of Emptiness)), and that his great finding is that /mentation/ and /egomental literacy/ are the source of human suffering.

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Again, to competently ((read)) the ((teachings)) of Lord Krishna- to enter the ((Script of Aum))- the meditative (holistic, non-dual literacy)) it was essential to de-code ((Krishna Yoga Teachings)) through the ((grammar of Aum)), and to see that /Arjuna/’s breakdown, his life-crisis meltdown and his struggle to process ((Krishna’s Speech)) were a direct result of his /egomental/ mentation and /dualistic literacy/. ((Meditative Literacy)) is not the same as /egomental literacy/. The “scripts” are flowing from different “rational-linguistic” spaces and dimensions.

The /Egomental Script/ is talking about /things/ - objectifying things with identity on the “screen of experience”; whereas the ((Meditative)) ((Yoga Script)) the ((Teaching of Krishna)) flows from the ((Aum Field of Presence)).

Similarly, we find in the ((Teachings of Jesus)) that he speaks from the ((Christ Field)) where he is ((One with the Field)) whereas his disciples (listeners) are processing his ((Words)) and ((Actions)) from the /monocentric literacy/ dominant in the everyday /culture/. In other “words”, ((Jesus)) is not /Jesus/; ((God)) is not /God/, ((Gospel)) is not //Gospel/.

Examples in this ((dimensional)) shift in Literacy and ((Word Power)) abound across Scriptures, Texts, worlds and traditions through the ages.

The extensive use of these ((dimensional markers)) in brining to the fore the ((Grammar of the Field)) in my ((experimental labs)) over decades has proved to be vital and indispensable in processing our great ((Teachings)) and making ((sense)) of our ((evolutionary journey)) through the ages and into our present cultural literacy.

The Great Conflation of the Two ((/Dimensions/))This clarification and dis-entangling of the chaotic conflation of these two dimensions of language, literacy, mentation (consciousness), word power, phenomena and existence is all-important for our human welfare and sustainability. In the global light of our perennial wisdom we must face and come to terms with the chronically entrenched continued dominance of our human condition across the planet by /monocentric/ literacy and mental practices.

If the consensus weight of our great awakening traditions has (on the one hand) detected, diagnosed and focused upon a stage of human self and culture making that produces dysfunctions and is detrimental to our human welfare, and (on the other hand) has innovated powerful prescriptions and strategies for letting these dysfunctional mental dynamics go as we evolve to more healthful integral and dialogic patterns of life, we must wonder how and why this condition persists.

I began to see over decades of steady research that a primary contributing cause for this persistent dominance of our cultural lives by /monocentric/ patterns of literacy and mentation is this “conflation” and entanglement of the two dimensions of rational and literacy development. Once we find a innovative systemic way to de-conflate and

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disentangle the two dimensions of “rational” life and cognitive development this would serve as a powerful counter-force to break the “trance”, empower us to recognize the profound difference between these two levels of evolutionary development and encourage us to break the “circuits” of /monocentric/ life and lift ourselves to a life and culture of ((Dialogic Literacy)).

An Evolutionary Breakthrough with De-Conflation: Before and AfterIn experimenting over a couple decades with the use of these “dimensional” ((markers)) in my teaching labs and public presentations around the globe in widely diverse settings it became clear that introducing these explicit ((markers)) to disentangle the two dimensions of discourse produced remarkable results and dilated new ((global space)) to access hitherto untapped rational, linguistic, cognitive and conceptual resources that remained eclipsed by the continued dominance of /monocentric/ mentation.

Something NewThe more the ((global lens)) dilates the more we are capacitated to see striking ((cross-links)) across diverse wisdom teachings and ((scriptures)). The more we cultivate dilated ((literacy)) in the ((I===Thou, Dialogic Space)) and ((see)) the striking contrast with the /I===It/, /Monologue Space/ the more we are able to tap and release the remarkable ((transformational)) powers of our diverse ((Scriptures)) and great ((Texts)) and ((Teachings)).

In this ((Global Rational Light)) one dramatic breakthrough for me is the realization that our diverse ((First Teachings)) concur that ((What-is-First)) must be ((Infinite)), hence ((Infinitely One)). Whatever ((Name)) is used authentically to ((express)) this ((Infinite First)) must ((co-originate)) from this ((Primal Source)) and are thus ((Holonymous)). It becomes clear that the ((Infinite One)) sources and incorporates ((Infinite Diversity)); hence ((Unity in Diversity)) and ((Diversity in Unity)). It is strikingly clear that “monocentric” /Unity/ is not ((Unity)); and the /Infinite/ is not ((Infinite)).

An allied dramatic advance in ((connecting dots)) across widely diverse ((Teachings)) is to ((see)) through the dilated ((Global Lens)) that there is a pervasive evolutionary stage of human development – the /monocentric/ dimension of /literacy/ - continues to dominate the lives of diverse people and cultures across the planet. We are able to ((see)) clearly in a way not accessible before, that “/…/” is a stage of language and mentation technology that is pandemic across the planet and across diverse worlds, ideologies, cultures, religions, and disciplinary practices.

Thus, the capacity to discern clearly and mark out into the open this /monocentric/ stage of literacy and rational discourse is in itself an astounding clarification. And once we have the explicit dimensional “markers”: ((…)) vs /…/ we are empowered with a clarified and de-conflated ((literacy)) that greatly amplifies our technology of ((Language)) and ((Mentation)). We’ll now see that this de-conflation of the two ((dimensions)) of rational development dilates ((literacy)) space for a flood of new ((insights)).

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1) It is clear that ((What-is-First)) must be ((Infinite Presence)), that this ((Primal ForceField)) is always ((Here-Now)) and ((Presiding)). Nothing, no /egomental/story, no /monocentric/ narrative, ideology or lifeworld can allege to stand “outside” of this ((First Field)). Indeed, it is strikingly clear through the ((Global Lens)) that this ((Field of Presence)) immediately and directly ((funds)) and ((sources)) every /X/. And the genius of our great ((traditions)) has seen this ((axiom)) and articulated it in ((diverse ways)).

2) This means that there is a profound and intimate ((relation)) between ((The Unified Field)) and any and all /monocentric/ worlds, cultures, religions, narratives, ideologies, disciplines and forms of life. And over the years as I experimented with this clarified ((Notation)) it became clear that the simplified way to ((show)) this ((global axiom)) is:

“((…/X/…))”

This is a remarkable yet classical finding. Simply stated, it means that every /monocentric/ script gets its funding and voltage from ((...)), is always ((situated)) within this ((Infinite Field)) and is thus always under the ((Influence)) of this ((Presiding Presence)): “(( Every /x/ is ((X)) ))”.

3) An allied striking clarification from the above is that our ((diverse teachings)) of ((Infinite First)) are tapping a deep common, missing ((Script)): the ((Script of Presence)). And the diverse great ((First Names)) do not /compete/ for ((authenticity)), but are ((Holonyms)) or ((Alternyms)) for this ((Space of Presence)). I have chosen to use ((LogoSophia)) as a operative ((Global Name)) for ((Presence)) and to speak of the missing ((Grammar of Logos)). This is the Primal ((Code)) of all /codes/.

Here it is important to see that /Logos/ is not ((Logos)); /Aum/ is not ((Aum)); /Yahweh/ is not ((Yahweh)); /Emptiness/ is not ((Emptiness)), etc.

So in provisionally selecting “Logos” as a candidate for a ((Global Name)) for ((Infinite Presence)) this leaves open and celebrates boundless alternative ((First Names)): ((Nature)), ((The Unified Field)), ((Primal Force)), ((Energy)), ((God)), ((Infinite Being))…and so on.

4) Equally revealing in this ((Global Light)) is that all “/life/”, “/events/”, /experience/” are always ((Under the Influence)) of ((Presence)): and this opens a new clarified horizon for a missing ((Evolutionary Drama)) across diverse cultures, worlds, scriptures, evolutionary narratives. The ((Infinite Force)) moves all /events/, and this sets the ((direction)) of ((evolutionary development)) in our ((human journey)): our ((evolutionary)) journey moves from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)), from /egosapien/ to ((logosapien)), from /I===It/ to ((I===Thou)), from /literacy/ to ((literacy)) from /reason/ to ((Reason)), from /religion/ to ((Spirituality)), from /science/ to ((Science)), etc.,.

5) It is in this ((context)) that our great ((Awakening Teachings)) and ((Scripts)) have focused on urging ((/humanity/)) to become keenly aware of the pernicious dominance of

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/monocentric/ patterns of /life/ and /mentation/ malpractice and ((calling the /people/)) to awaken = to ((upscript)) from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)). This ((common call)) becomes clarified when we dilate to our ((Global Lens)) and step beyond the /monocentric forces/ of /I===It/ literacy.

The all-important ((evolutionary shift)) from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) is best seen as a ((dimensional)) shift in ((Literacy)) and ((Rational Capacity)) because monocentric /script/ is in some fundamental way /severed/ or /alienated/ from ((Presence)), from ((Primal Script)) from the ((Unified Field of Reality)), and this failure to /connect/ with ((Source)) produces pervasive human dysfunctions at the personal and cultural levels. The /monocentric life/ takes its /script/ and /mentation/ to be self-constituting and /independent/ of any ((funding source)). This is the origin of naïve /Identity/ that at once supports the mis-taken practice of taking one’s /self/ to be and independently constituted “atomic” /entity/ or /being/, and also taking one’s lifeworld or living reality or worldview or /cultural lens/ to be a primary /given/ and which naturally self-privileges its local perspective.

Whereas, our diverse great ((Wisdom Teachings)) recognized, one way and another that this stage of evolutionary (human) development suffers dysfunctions precisely because of its inherent /alienation/ from ((The Field)). And, as diverse as they are, these ((Scripts)) concur that the primary prescription for ((human flourishing)) is the call to the “people” to make the ((dimensional shift)) to a more mature and healthful ((Life in Dialogue)) which ((flows)) in ((The Field)).

This evolutionary maturation from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) is a profound ((dimensional shift)) because severed /script/ is /objectified/ and /inert/ while ((Script)) = ((I===Thou Mentation)) is ((Alive, Performative, Presentational, Integral, Holistic)) and ((Flows seamlessly with the Field)). Here, the ((thinking Person)) and the ((Script)) are one and inseparable: ((Script)) =((The Field of Reality)) = ((Presence))…cannot be /scripted/ or /objectified/ or /down scripted/.

This is why our great ((Teachings)) have in their diverse ways insisted that this shift to ((upscript)) is a matter of ((Life)) and /Death/.

The bottom line in this great ((evolutionary drama)) is that /script/ cannot adequately “download”, “translate”, “process” or “express” the ((Living Script)) or the ((Script of Presence)). The /I===It/ Script inherently /objectifies/ whatever it /touches/: it is a stage of /literacy/ wherein whatever is /thematized/ for /thought/, /speech/, or //writing/ is rendered as /content/ for the /thinking agent/:

/I/ vs /Thematized Content/

This /objectified content/ is what /appears/, as it were, on the /screen of our awareness/ of /experience/ of /our world/ of /phenomena/ of /scripture/, etc.

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There is literally /nothing/ that we cannot thus /thematize/, /objectify/ or /talk about/ in our powerful /I===It/ /script/ = /literacy/ = /mentation practice/.

And the apparent ((/evolutionary/)) success of this breakthrough to /I==It/ Script Power – empowering the /human/ to /think/ or /speak/ “about” any “topic” whatever naturally encouraged this form of /literacy/ and /rationality/ to become /enshrined/ as the preferred, de facto, privileged and predominant form of /literacy/ in /culture making/ (in processing /self/, /world/, /experience/, /phenomena/, /language/, /meaning/, /existence/, information/, /ethics/, /reason/, /cognition/, /knowledge/, /truth/…)

It is precisely this /all encompassing/ power of /Script/ and /Monocentric Literacy/ that fed the habit of /receiving/, /hearing/, /interpreting/, /processing/ our ((Wisdom Scripts)), for example, within this /I===It/ objectified /space/.

It is precisely at this ((/interface/)) between ((Script)) vs. /Script/ that our ((Scriptures)) invested all their ((powers)) to prevent and preempt the chronically entrenched malpractice of /downloading/ the ((Script of Presence)) to the /Monocentric Word/: thus to reduce ((God)) to /God/; ((Christ)) to /Christ/; ((Aum)) to /Aum/; ((Yahweh)) to /Yahweh/; ((Tao)) to /Tao/; ((Nature)) to /Nature/; ((Person)) to /Person/; ((Self)) to /Self/; ((Dialogue)) to /Monologue/; ((Language)) to /Language/; ((Knowledge)) to /Knowledge/…((Science)) to /Science/.

And this is where the “conflation” or chaotic entanglement of the two ((/dimensions/)), by default, perhaps chronic neglect, enabled the dominant /Script/ to continue it’s naïve and uncritical /download/ of ((Reality)) to its preferred /worldview/ via our monocentric /language/ games.

It is for this ((reason)) that it is now ((imperative)) that we move together to ((co-create)) potent ((/markers/)) to help us recognize, honor and enforce the all-important ((/dimensional/)) shift from /script/ to ((Script)), /lens/ to ((Lens)), /mind/ processing to ((Mind)) processing, /Reason/ to ((Reason)).

This is why I have introduced as ((evolutionary markers)): ((…) v /…/to bring this to light for our ((human family)), our ((cultures)), our ((religions)) our ((academies)), our ((Disciplines)).

Why /Monologue/ is the Prime Source of /Dogma/ and /Ideology/Well, it has taken much time to bring these ((highlights)) to the fore, even in such compressed and summary form.

But now I hope we may focus in again on the main topic before us: my sense of the ((evolutionary significance)) of Sheldrake’s Science Set Free.

For me it is vital to see the depth of /monocentric script/ and to get a sense of the urgency of the ((evolutionary call)) to mature from /script/ to (Script)).

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Sheldrake’s important book, indeed, his lifework as a pioneering ((Scientist)) seeks to set /science/ ((Free)). And his focus is on demonstrating that the current dominant “culture of science” is lodged in certain /dogmas/ and constricted by /ideology/ and in a certain “delusion”.

With our summary presentation of the ((evolutionary shift)) from /Script/ to ((Script)) we are now in a better position to zero in on the origin of /dogma/ and /ideology/. Sheldrake has spoken on the “science delusion”. And others have written on the “religion delusion”. I wish to suggest that any /culture/, /worldview/, /ideology/, /discipline/…that is uncritically rendered within /Monologue Script/ will be inherently impaled in /dogma/, /objectified content/, /ideology/, /worldview/, /beliefs/, /subjectivism/, /reductionism/…all of which inherently come with the dominance of /Script/. While /Monologue/ displaces ((Dialogue)), ((Dialogue)) dilates ((rational space)) for ((open inquiry)) and ((experimental research)).

Why /Script/ Encodes and Spawns /Dogmatism/ and /Ideological/ Mentation

Let us pause a moment and focus our full attention on the evolutionary significance of introducing our inter-dimensional ((/markers/)) and de-conflating (dis-entangling) the ((Holistic Script)) from the /monologue script/.

This is unprecedented, and once we make the contrast and relation between ((Script)) and /Script/ explicit this brings to the fore an astounding shift in every conceivable aspect of our human condition.

First and foremost is the realization that “Reality” is a ((Primal Force-field)) which is Boundless or ((Infinite)). This ((Primal Unified Field)) is the ever-present Source that funds and makes possible all that is. Nothing could be or work or be sustainable apart from this ((Infinite Presiding Presence)). And this fundamental ((Axiom)) has been an emergent ((consensus)) of our ((Wisdom Teachings)) throughout the ages, across the planet. It cannot be ignored or set aside.

This ((Primal Field)), by whatever ((name)) is also ((Primal Script)), ((Infinite Word)), source and origin of all forms of “language”.

In this ((Light)) it becomes immediately apparent that /Script/, what we are calling “/monocentric script/” is an evolutionary stage of linguistic, literacy and menation development. This means that /script/ in all its diversity could not be or function apart from ((Script)), and is a local “download” of the ((Primal Word Field)).

Once we ((name)), ((identity)) and bring into the open the /monocentric script/ technology we are able for the first time to ((see clearly)) the inter-dimensional ((difference)) between ((Script)) and /Script/, and appreciate anew both the compelling power of /script/ as well as the pernicious consequences of being captured by and lodged within the dominant forces of /monocentric/ life.

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First, it is clear in the ((Global Light)) that /script/, and the /cultures/ and /worldviews/ that flow from it could not be, could not function, are not sustainable outside the ever-funding ((Source)) of the ((Primal Field)): /script/ disintegrates and evaporates apart from ((Script)). ((/Script/)) thus appears to work, to function well, to have its self-sustaining and independent /life/ precisely because of “conflation” and “entanglement” with its ever present and funding ((Source Script Flow)). For example, /script/- our power to use /language/ as we do where words have their fixed meanings grounded in identity and can depict “the world” and convey “information”, allowing us to “think” and “speak” and “write”…could not function without ((relational flow)) which is ever-funded by ((Script)). If we “remove” ((relational flow)) /Script/ falls apart into its artificial /fragments/.

The distortion of “conflation” which comes from /script/ life enables and facilitates the profoundly mistaken appearance that /language/ and /script/ and /monocentric life/ have a self-sustaining and independently constitute “life” and “reality” of its own.

Once the debilitating conflation is stripped away and the predominant enterprise of /script/ is named, exposed, and brought explicitly to ((Light)), the /game/ is up. There is no ((/place/)) for /script/ to “hide” in the ((Light)). /It/ has been trading on the conflation and pre-consciously tapping and sapping the ((Resources of Script)) to fund its alleged /sustainability/ whilst hiding in its self-created /shadow/ amidst ever present ((Light)). And the /shadow/ of /Script/ perpetually self-eclipses ((Script)) and its funding ((Light)).

This is why introducing our ((/evolutionary markers/)) to ((identity)) and bring /Script/ into the open and call it to ((accountability)) is all-important now for our ((evolutionary)) maturation in all aspects of our ((/human condition/)).

This de-conflation of the contrasting ((/dimensions/)) with our ((evolutionary markers)) brings to the fore not only the vital ((contrast)) between ((…)) v /…/ but also the essential intimate ((relations)) between the two “dimension”: The ((Global Wisdom)) of diverse ((First Scripts)) concurs that the ((Primal Infinite Field)) situates, surrounds, saturates, and sources all possible /scripts/: no /script/ could arrogate independent /space/ “outside” of the ((Infinite Script Field)). There is no “outside”, nor could there be. The ((Primal Field)) is thus the ever-present ((Global Context)) that surrounds and funds all possible /scripts/, /narratives/, /disciplines/, /theories/, /paradigms/, /ideologies/, /religions/, /worldviews/:

((…/…/…))

It may be said that this ((evolutionary marker)) encodes and expresses the collective ((wisdom)) of our great ((enlightened teachings and scriptures)).

However, when /…/, /Monocentric Script/ dominates our personal and collective lives – our “mind” space, our “literacy” space, our “rational” space, our “cognitive” space, our

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“psychic” space our “political” space, our “religious” space, our “academic” space…the above clarified ((configuration)) is perverted into

/…((…))…/

In this predominant perversion of the appropriate ((Script Space)) the higher source ((Script)) is chronically and invariably /downloaded/ and /colonized/ by the pervasive and all-consuming /Monocentric Script/. And this is the source of our ((evolutionary crisis)). The ((Infinite Field)) is /reduced/ and /down-sized/ into the confines of /monocentric script space/. And this fundamental perversion of ((Script Space)) spawns a range of rational, spiritual, moral, cognitive and ontological disorders and pathologies.

The Stunning Evolutionary “Success” of /Monocentric Script/We must pause a moment to acknowledge the apparent stunning evolutionary “success” of /Monocentric Script/: the /signature/ of /mono script/ is that this breakthrough stage of evolutionary development of “literacy” and “rational mentation” appeared to empower us in our evolutionary journey with boundless /script power/.

The evolutionary emergence of /Script/ must have been a remarkable advance, akin to harnessing “fire”. For /mono script/ appeared to be independently given, self-sustaining and boundless in scope and power. There is /literally/ nothing that we cannot /think, speak, write, reason, theorize…/ about. There appears to be no “world”, no “scripture”, no “teaching”, no “word”…that /we/ cannot /encompass/ within our “/universal/ script”.

And precisely this (apparent) evolutionary “breakthrough” is, ironically, generative of our current human evolutionary crisis. The /totalizing/ scope and power of /script/ seems to have “eclipsed” ((The Field: Script)), privileging it-self as front and center and self constituted. And this severance (alienation, eclipse, reduction, conflation, splitting away…) of /Script/ from its ((Source Script)), from the ((Field of Reality)) is the primal source of a range of rational, ontological, cultural, literacy and hermeneutical disorders and dysfunctions.

The universal, totalizing and colonizing scope and power of /Script/ has held ((Humanity)) captive and has been, perhaps, the most deeply entrenched barrier to our ((evolutionary maturation)) as ((Logosapiens)).

Again, there appears to be no “topic”, no subject, no object, no item in the ((universe)) that we cannot situate within the jurisdiction of /Script/: we can think, thematize, objectify, identify, theorize, /scriptify/ any “item” whatever: you /name it/…and it’s a done deal.

However, our ((Wisdom Teachings)) of the ages now seen through the ((Global Lens)) and in its ((Global Light of Reason)) exposes and corrects this mis-impression that /script/ is self funded, self sourced, self sufficient, self sustaining and self regulating. For when alienated or estranged from ((Script)) it is readily seen that /Script/ (/monocentric/ literacy, /monologue/, /logocentric/ mentation…) alleging to stand alone unplugs its

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voltage, loses it self-privileging primacy, its credibility and no longer appears to truly work taking credit for its supposed great accomplishments.

It now comes to ((Light)) that all /scripts/ appear to “work” and have “success” through underground preconscious “trading” on the ever present funding source of the surrounding ((Primal Script)). And our great ((Teachers)) have been calling out to us in diverse ways to ((see)) this co-dependent dysfunction and urging the ((/people/)) to ((awaken)), to leave the /caves/, to ((Up-script)) and enter the ((Global Light of Logos)).

The Origin of the /Dogmatic Mind/We are closer now to uncovering the deep ((diagnosis)) of the /dogmatic/ and /ideological/ mentality.

Simply ((stated)), it is the primal severance of /Script/ from ((Script)) that produces the /Ideological Mentality/ and a range of allied rational, cognitive, ontological and cultural disorders and dysfunctions. This /monocentric/ mentation ensnares humans in a range of ((symptoms)): /dogmatic/ fixity; /closed minded/ prejudices; privileging ones /mental lens/ and /reducing/ ((Phenomena)), the ((Other)) to its /worldview/ or /conceptual ecology/; /fundamentalism/ in self absolutizing one’s /ideology/, /lifeworld/, /narrative/, /culture/, /disciplinary lens/; /objectivism/ as colonizing or /reducing/ ((Reality) to its /content/ or /object/ of /inquiry/; /subjectivism/ as imposing one’s /personal/ or /local/ or /tribal/ “lens” on ((The World)); /relativism/ as holding that “Reality” or “truth” is /relative/ to the /lens/ of the beholder…to mention a few classic ((symptoms)).

/Monocentric Script/ by its /nature/ renders all it /touches/ as /content/: when we /think/, /speak/ or /write/ ABOUT “IT” we thereby sever ((It)) from its ((originating context)) and make “it” an /object/ (or /subject/) of /discourse/.

This is a primal /Reduction/ =/Objectification/ =/Subjectification/ = /Materialization/ = /Entification/ = /Reification/ of any and every ((X)).

Our ((Wisdom Teachings)) recognized that /monocentric/ scripting or /mentation/ inherently /violates/ whereof it /scripts/, rendering it /inert/ and in that sense /materialized/. And the grand evolutionary lesson is that /Monocentric Script/ and /Mentation/ inherently /objectifies/ and /materializes/ all it touches and /thematizes/. This /Objectification/ of /Content/ breaks the continuum circuit with ((Source Script)) =((The Field)).

It is stunning to realize that “everything” thus /reduced/ to /Monocentric Literacy/ is rendered /inert/, /objectified/ and thus /materialized/: so /mind/ and /consciousness/ and /god/ and /spirituality/ and /nature/ and /psyche/ and /body/ and /brain/ and /self/ and /matter/ and /phenomena/… are all /materialized/. Thus, /Mono Script/ is the systemic mother-source of /materialism/= /objectification/= /reduction/.

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Equally alarming is the ((recognition)) via our now dilated ((Global Lens)) that /Monocentric Script/ spawns boundless alternative /worldviews/, /ideologies/, /lifeworlds/, /paradigms/, /conceptual structures/, /cultural memes/, /ontologies/, /scriptures/, /religions/, /narratives/, /perspectives/. /dogmas/…And the striking realization is that /dogmatism/ is not just being locked into any one particular /system of belief/ or /worldview/ or /theoretical framework/…but rather (more deeply) comes with /Monocentric mentation/ itself: /dogmatism/ is not only being locked into and privileging some particular /content/ or /belief-system/ but is a pre-((critical)) mentation practice or mental attitude toward any /content/ that arises from /Monocentric/ literacy itself.

This means that /science/ itself, which presents itself as being open minded critical inquiry may well be just as /Dogmatic/ and /Ideological/ as any given /Religious/ dogmatism or /fundamentalist/ mental attitude.

To the extent that /Science/ practices /Monocentric Mentation/, thus /Reducing/, /Objectifying/, /Materializing/ and rendering /Inert/ the /Content/ of its /mentation/ and /theorizing/, it is already inherently lodged in pre((critical)) /Dogmatism/ regarding its preferred /Ideology/. Thus, it is not just /science’s/ fixation on /ontological materialism/ that leads to /dogmatism/, it is more deeply and systemically its ensnarement within /Mono Script/ that /materializes/ all it touches.

Similarly, any /Religion/ that lives and breathes /Mono Script/ equally /Objectifies/ and /Reduces/ and /Materializes/ its /Content/, and /Scripture/ is inherently lodged within /Script Dogmatism/ and /Ideological Mentation/.

Indeed, any and all /Cultural Life/ that is dominated by /Monocentric Script/ practices are ensnared and lodged within this /systemic/ and /structural/ and /literacy/ dogmatism and ideology.

Thus, /Dogmatism/ and /Ideology/ and /Delusion/ and /Fundamentalism/ and /Relativism/ and /Absolutism/ and /Scepticism/ and /Spiritualism/ and /Materialism/ and /Idealism/ and /Mono-theism/ and /Atheism/ and /Pluralism/ and /Modernism/ and /Post-Modernism/ and /Subjectivism/ and /Objectivism/and /Nihilism/…and the /like/ are all in the same /Boat/.

Our ((Wisdom Teachings)) ((recognized)) that the /Reduction/ of ((X)) to /X/ is a fatal inter-dimensional /Fallacy/.

It has been ((seen)) for millennia (and reiterated through the ages) that /talking/ ABOUT ((X)) thus /Reducing/ and /Objectifying/ = /Subjectifying/ ((It)) to a monocentric /It/ inherently /violates/ and renders /inert/ whereof it /speaks/.

This is why, for example, the teachings of ((Tao)) begins with the warming injunction: the ((Tao)) that is /named/ is not ((Tao)); or, Do not /write/ the ((Name of God)), do not /take/ ((It)) in /vain/; the ((Light of Logos)) is out of the /cave/; ((Meditate as

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AUM)), the ((Self)) is not the /self/; Christ)) is ((Logos in the Flesh)), ((I and the Father are One)), the ((Law of Love)) cannot be /written/ in /stone/: ((It)) must be ((lived in the heart)); ((Buddha)) cannot be /Objectified/; ((Buddha’s Teaching)) is beyond /Ideology/, and so on.

Again, to ((sum up)): the /Ideological Mind/ and the /Dogmatic Mind/ co-originate with and are in-scribed within /Mono Script/ itself. /Dogmatism/ is a mental attitude, a /mentality/ that infects everything its /touches/, and is not locatable within any particular /content/ as such apart from the /Script/ and /Lens/ and /Hermeneutic/ that renders /It/. A /Scientist/ may just as much be lodged in /Dogma/ and /Dogma-Mentation/ and /Ideological Minding/ as any other /person/ who uncritically lives a /Monocentric Literacy/.

/Thinking About/ any /X/ within /Mono Script/ has already rendered “it’ /Inert/ and has /Materialized/ = /Objectified/ its /Content/. In this way thinking /ABOUT/ ((IDEAS)), ((CONSCIOUSNESS)), ((SPIRITUALITY)), ((PSYCHE)) ((PHENOMENA)), ((BRAIN)), ((NATURE)), ((BODY)), ((ENERGY)), ((THE FIELD))…already /materializes/ ((/It/)). And the local /worldview/ of /materialism/ is just a footnote to this Primal /Materialism/ that comes with /Mono Script/. In this way ((Spirit)) may just as well be /Materialized/ or /Objectified/ with /Script/ so /materialism/ and /spiritualism/ are in the same /Script Boat/. If /Delusion/ is being severed from ((Reality)) then any /Worldview/ living in and from /Script/ is thus afflicted with this pathology of /Literalism/: the /Science/ delusion and the /Religion/ delusion and the /Culture/ delusion share the same /Literalism/.

Why the ((Dimensional)) Shift is All-Important: ((Open Inquiry))We may now conclude our journey in accentuating the ((Dimensional)) Shift in ((literacy)) and clarifying why the ((Open, Critical, Experimental, Inquiring Mind)) comes with the evolutionary shift from /Mono Script/ to ((Holo Script)), from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)).

We have suggested, in the ((Light)) of ((Global Wisdom)), that the ((difference)) between /Monocentric Script/ and ((Dialogic Script)) is so dramatic and all-important that it is best ((seen)) as a ((dimensional)) shift in ((Literacy…Script….Mentation…Rationality)).

One way to bring this out is to ((see)) that /Mono-Script/ is /I===It/ while ((Holo-Script)) is ((I===Thou)). The ((I===Thou)) Literacy Space enters the ((Space of Presence)), the ((Primal LogoSphere)), the ((Infinite Script)) wherein ((everything)) Flows in boundless ((I===Thou)) Dialogic Inter-connectivity. This ((Script)) of ((Reality)) opens ((space)) for ((dialogic encounters of the First Kind)) beyond /Objectification/ and /Reduction/ of the ((other)).

Whereas, the /I===It/ Literacy of /Monologue/ inherently renders the /Other/ as an /Object/ or /Content/ =/It/ which is constituted through its /mono-lens/.

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/Monocentric Literacy/ renders /Inert/ whatever is presented as /Content/ of /Experience/, and this invariably appears through the /local lens/ of the /thinker/ or /experiencer/. Indeed, the /thinker/ herself is constituted as an /Object/ within this /Literacy/ so both the /thinking subject/ and whatever /content or object/ is /thought about/ are likewise /objectified/ in /Monocentric Script/.

Thus, the key to ((seeing)) the profound ((Difference)) between ((I===Thou)) Script and /I===It/ Script through the ((Global Lens)) is discerning that all /I===It/ “content” is /objectified/ and rendered /inert/: all /signs/ are inert.

Whereas, in the ((dimensional shift)) to ((Script of Presence)) all ((signs)) are living and cannot be severed from ((conscious mentation)): ((signs)) are alive in ((I==Thou)) encounters. ((Signs)) cannot be severed from the ((Living, Conscious Mentation of Thought and Thinker)). The ((Other)) in ((I===Thou Literacy)) is not /reduced to an /Object/ or /Content/, but is encountered as a ((Presence)): an ((X)) is never rendered as an /X/. A ((Person)) is never reduced to an /Object/.

In this way there is truly a ((dimensional)) shift in “Literacy”, “Mentation”, and “Experience” from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)). While the /mental lens/ of /Monologue/ is /fixed/ and /localized/ within /Mono-Script/ practices, the ((lens)) of the ((thinker)) is dilated to ((global lens)) and ((global dialogue)) in the ((Script of Presence)), the ((Field of Reality)).

The profound ((lesson)) in all this is that “Consciousness” and “Script” and “Literacy” and “Rationality” co-arise together. /Script/ encodes the /lens/, the /mentation/ the /literacy/ the /phenomena/, the /form of life/. One cannot enter ((awakened consciousness)) within /monocentric script/. As ((consciousness)) awakens and dilates, the “script” and “lens” and “literacy” and “logistic” or ‘mind operating process” all ((co-dilate)) together. In other ((words)), /Script/ encodes /mentation/, /lens/, /literacy/, /hermeneutic/, /logistic/ or /mind operating praxis/. It takes ((Script)) to ((see)) /Script/.

((Script)) comes with ((I===Thou)) Mentation or ((Dialogic Consciousness)). And this ((Literacy)) ignites in making the ((Dimensional Shift)) from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)). ((Literacy of Presence)) is ((Alive)) and brings ((open dialogue encounters)) with the ((Primal Field of Reality)). In this respect, as we have suggested, /Script/ eclipses ((Reality)) while ((Script)) dilates and opens ((primary encounters of the first kind)).

((Deep Dialogue, Critical Minding and Experimental Inquiry))With this clarification of the ((Dimensional Shift)) from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) we are in a better position to appreciate the real difference between ((Open Minded Inquiry)) and /Monocentric Inquiry/.

It is vital to see that so-called “experimental method” is truly a form of ((dialogue inquiry)): the thinker experimentally encounters the ((evidence)) and ((listens)) with an open ((critical lens)) = ((deep dialogue rationality)) to the ((feed back)) from the

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((Other)): whether Other-person, Other-worldview, Other-culture, Other-phenomena, from dialogue encounters with ((nature))…To be un-critically lodged within /Mono Script/, with its inherent /objectifying/ and /reductive/ dynamic, already eclipses the ((other)) and approaches its thus /rendered other/ within its fixed /lens/ and /ideology/.

Yes, of course, there can be “inner” /inquiry/ within this already /reduced/ and /compromised/ mono-script experience: we may conduct /experimental testing of alternative /hypotheses/ within a given, say, /materialistic worldview/. But this form of /monocentric/ inquiry and /testing/ is /monologic/ rather than truly ((Dialogic)). By unilaterally self-privileging its /ideology/ it moves in /prejudice/ and this begs the ((scientific)) question.

In the Ethos of ((Dialogue)) and ((HoloScript-Rational Life)) the open ((inquirer)) is open to alternative ((phenomena)), to different ((worldviews)) within the ((global rational space)). Our dominant /Mono Script/ forecloses true Openness and Critical Reason to ((dialogic encounters)) of the ((evidence)) beyond its /constrictive/ monocentric /lens/ and /mental fixations/. This is the inherent /Reductionism/ that comes with /Mono Script/.

Here it should be noticed that true ((Experimental Inquiry)) is the Art of ((Deep Dialogue)) encounters with the ((other)): the ((ethos)) of ((experimental inquiry)) is precisely the Ethos of ((Deep Dialogue Rationality)) that comes with the willingness, readiness to ((dilate)) one’s ((/lens/)) in the ever deepening ((encounter)) with ((Phenomena)) in the ((I===Thou Inter-connective Flow of Reality)). The ((signature)) of self revisioning ((Open Inquiry)) is the play of ((Deep Dialogue)) open ((space))/

In this respect /critical thinking/ within the “/box/” of /Monocentric Literacy/ falls short of the ((Dialogic Critical Minding)) that flows forth when we mature from /Script/ to ((Script)), from /lens/ to ((lens)), from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) from /reason/ to ((Reason)).

Any ((discipline)) or area of ((experience)) or ((cultural life)) that proceeds with ((Dialogic Critical Reason)) is truly ((Experimental)), whether it be the area of ((Natural Science)), ((Social Science)), ((Religious Life)), ((Spiritual Experience)), ((Political Life)), ((Inter-Personal Relations))…((Common Sense)).

((Experimental Inquiry)) does not “belong” to /science/ or any other /discipline/. It is an open and equal opportunity ((Rational)) enterprise for all ((walks and talks of Life)). It is a classical insight of ((Global Wisdom)) that ((Reason)) is ((Ecumenical)) and not lodged in any /dogma/ or /ideology/. Indeed, ((Reason)), the ((Script of Logos)), the ((Mentation and Literacy of Presence)) is beyond the /dogmatic closure/ that comes with /Monocentric Script/ and /Ideological Mentation/.

And it is now more ((evident)) that ((The World)), ((Nature)), ((Experience)), ((Phenomena)) make a ((dimensional shift)) from /empirical/ to ((Empirical)). The predominant weight of our ((Global Wisdom)) has been urging us to dilate from

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/experience/ to ((Experience)), from the /empirical/ to the ((Empirical)). Thus, again, the ((Empirical)) does not “belong” to /scientific method/. And we move beyond the /Dogmas/ of /Empiricism/. And the ((Empirical)), the ((Experimental Scientist)) or the ((Human)) is one who moves beyond the artificial confines of /Script/ and dilates ((life)) in the ((Script)) of a ((life in Dialogue)).

All of ((Meditative Life)), for example, calls us to ((dilate)) from /egomental/ experience to ((Experience)), from the /empirical/ to the awakened ((Empirical)). All of ((Yoga Science)), for example, calls us to set our ((bodies)) free, to free our ((Minds)) and liberate our ((literacy)). All of Zen Literacy calls upon us to ((Chop Wood) and ((Carry Water)): to encounter the ((World)) and ((live)) in ((presence)).

Our ((evolutionary journey)) as ((Rational Beings)) is precisely the maturation from /monologue/ to ((dialogue)), from /reason/ to ((Reason)) from /egosapiens/ to ((logoSapiens)).

Conclusion: The Evolutionary Significance of Sheldrake’s Science Set FreeWell, it has been a long journey to arrive at this summary conclusion. We have taken time to open our ((Evolutionary Drama)) and explore the remarkable shift from /Script/ to ((Script)). And when we ((situate)) Sheldrake’s important book, indeed, his lifework as a pioneer in dilating the ((space of science)) within this ((Evolutionary Maturation)) we are able to ((appreciate)) the historic importance of his disclosures. Sheldrake, as we have seen, seeks to make a decisive case for the current “culture” of “science” being constricted by certain dogmas and restricted by certain ideology and suffering from a certain “delusion”. He locates certain dogmas in science being uncritically locked into a “materialist” worldview and ideology.

In our journey I have suggested that the origin of “dogmatic” and “ideological” mind is not restricted to any particular /ideology/ or /worldview/ or /belief system/ but is already encoded within and constituted in /Monocentric Script/ itself. And Sheldrake’s compelling case that /Science/ is lodged in /dogma/ and /ideology/ is a vital step in getting to the deeper ((diagnosis)) of the root and source of all forms of /dogmatic mentation/ and /ideological/ mentation.

I suggest that Sheldrake’s insistence that ((psychic phenomena)), for example, cannot be /reduced/ to /phenomena/ but call for a shift to ((morphic fields)) is tantamount to insisting on dilating the ((lens)) and ((literacy)) of /science/ to the ((Integral)) and ((Holistic Script)) of ((Science)).

It is my sense that Sheldrake is opening ((rational space)) for the evolutionary shift from /science/ to ((Science)). And this is the pathway to setting /Science/ Free. And this evolutionary ((maturation)) that liberates ((Science)) and ((Open Critical Inquiry)) is the very ((Shift)) in all aspects of our ((Culture)) as we mature from /human/ to ((Human)), from /rational/ to ((Rational)), from /Religion/ to ((Spirituality)) as we enter our unprecedented ((Global Age)).

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Ashok GangadeanMargaret Gest Professor of Global PhilosophyHaverford CollegeFounder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institutewww.awakeningmind.org

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