More Than Allegory: On Religious Myth, Truth And Belief by Bernardo Kastrup (PDF)

Description

This book is a three-part journey into the rabbit hole we call the nature of reality. Its ultimate destination is a plausible, living validation of transcendence. Each of its three parts is like a turn of a spiral, exploring recurring ideas through the prisms of religious myth, truth and belief, respectively. With each turn, the book seeks to convey a more nuanced and complete understanding of the many facets of transcendence. Part I puts forward the controversial notion that many religious myths are actually true; and not just allegorically so. Part II argues that our own inner storytelling plays a surprising role in creating the seeming concreteness of things and the tangibility of history. Part III suggests, in the form of a myth, how deeply ingrained belief systems create the world we live in. The three themes, myth, truth and belief, flow into and interpenetrate each other throughout the book.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Part 3 of this book is described as the apex of a rising three-level spiral; I start there. In this part, Kastrup describes his work for, and experiences with, “The Club” – a research effort into consciousness/Being/the universe funded by a secret group of billionaires. What has been developed is a tri-part technology involving a helmet with modulated EM fields, a cocktail of drugs, with an AI program monitoring neural patterns which modulates the EM fields and the drug mixture to achieve targeted states of, shall we say, transcendent consciousness. The target state is what Kastrup calls the “dome” – a state where Kastrup converses with “the Other,” the Other being roughly defined as the entire Consciousness of the Universe excluding Kastrup’s particular, individual focus of this Consciousness.To the dome, I think I can attest, as in one of my two trips in this life, I found myself in what felt like a “dome of Being,” in which both I and my fellow tripper proceeded to have a rather cosmic conversation on education as purposed (if proper) to the evolution of consciousness. The ideas arose from my companion’s reading, and this is the problem: The Other tells Kastrup that he/she can only answer to what Kastrup asks, i.e., the impetus, the subjects must come from within Kastrup. But the book, via the Other’s revelations, is at least implicitly (p. 4, p. 162) claiming to offer the solution to Chalmers’ “hard problem” of consciousness, a problem which I have argued is in reality a more general problem, not just accounting – in a neural or computer architecture – for the origin of “qualia,” but rather accounting for our image of the external world – the white coffee cup with brown/cream swirling surface, stirring spoon, sitting on the kitchen table before us. The entirety of the image – to include not only its whites, browns, creams and the “clinking” sounds of the spoon (color/sound qualia), but also its forms – is qualia. But the story proffered by the Other is no explanation of the origin of our image of the external world.The concepts are mostly captured in a few passages (direct and/or paraphrased a bit): We are collapsed “segments” of Mind-at-Large that wake up inside its (Mind’s) dream (p. 144), where the “collapse” equals a compression of a vast set of ideas (or beliefs). A satellite photograph of a city gives a broad comprehensive view from the outside; standing in the street gives a localized view from the inside (e.g., the facades of the buildings, addresses on mailboxes). …sense perception is the view from the inside out that isn’t available before the cognitive collapse (i.e., collapse of Mind into a segment – “me”) (p. 202). My experiences could be modulated – as opposed to generated – by my material brain in that world (i.e., the world of Mind or mind-at-large) (p.163).We see then mostly a panpsychism, where all is Mind, where we are Mind individualized, unique perspectives within Mind. Added to this (from Part 2) is a raw Idealism – the external world (with the coffee cup and spoon) does not exist, it is a creation of our mind. Unfortunately, whether we little minds are seeing a city while perched atop a satellite, or seeing from our perch atop a tricycle in the street, we still – playing scientists – require a theory of seeing, of perception. Standard panpychism has none. Idealism has none; it has no clue how an image, yes, an image of the coffee cup, is created. It just says it is so. So, we are told that “experiences could be ‘modulated’ by the brain as opposed to generated by the brain.” But what might such a modulation actually be? From the Other – unmodulated Silence. Let me cut to the chase to show what such a model would actually look like. Bergson described it (Matter and Memory, 1896). For Bergson, “mind-at-large” becomes the field of matter taken as a holographic field – a vast interference pattern, a field inherently non-image-able. The field is transforming in indivisible (or non-differentiable) motion. The field, at the null (or infinitely minute) scale of time carries the elementary attributes of mind – in Bergson’s terms, it is “pure perception.” The brain, in this model, is effectively a modulated reconstructive wave, passing through this field, and specific to, or specifying, a source or sources in this field, by this process now an “image” – the coffee cup and stirring spoon. The cup and spoon are right where they say they are – within the external field. (In essence, we are describing how perception is limited, not generated.) The dynamics of the brain impose a scale of time upon the specified image – a “buzzing” fly of normal scale, as opposed to a heron-like fly, slowly flapping his wings at some other scale, or a shimmering, crystalline, vibratory fly at yet another scale, i.e., the holofield is not simply “experience” to be modulated – the origin of its specified scale of time requires explanation too. The specification is to the past – a past transformation of the field – for the fly’s perceived wingbeats are long since in the past, and this is supported by the indivisibility of this time transformation. (I must neglect the inadequacies of the Other on time.) Finally, the differentiation and/or relation between subject and object is thus in terms of time, not space.Bergson provides then a model where indeed all (the holographic field) is Mind, yet the brain as “matter” (a limiting case of mind) and the external field of matter are equally very real, and the ecological laws (these are invariance laws, as described by J.J. Gibson) and physics employed by the brain in specifying an image of (a subset of) the external field can indeed be explored by science. The Other provides no such purchase for science. I suspect Kastrup’s observation here is perhaps significant: he notes that many famous authors (the “Explorers,” p. 155) have been part of this “Club” and have been participants in these experiments and methodology, and he implies this may be where they got their ideas and material. I think (i.e., wonder now) about folks like Chopra or Lazlo, and am starting to wonder if this explains the near uniform content I see re explanations of consciousness and the hard problem by so many of these big-name writers – and, yes, the near uniform set of blind spots. They could all use to explore Messer Bergson. Uniformly, none do. The Other doesn’t seem to know about, care about, or maybe just understand this great philosopher.

⭐Thanks again Bernardo. Loved your trinitarian format exploring Myth, Truth and Belief. I felt on numerous occasions while reading MTA that I really truly got it only to be reined in by my rational mind/meta consciousness/ego. Then, around the middle of the book, the aha moment – I and other are one and the same consciousness – stuck around and still feels insightful.

⭐Incredible book. Within 50 pages I knew it was my new favorite book. This is probably Bernardo at his most prosaic and poetic, and it is the perfect method of delivering his message.

⭐Wow.This is the first Amazon review I have ever written. I just bought the book a couple hours ago and I’m just now catching my breath after finishing it. Before I continue, I feel as though I should add a disclaimer. If you are not familiar with esotericism/mysticism in general or Bernardo’s work in particular, I’m inclined to recommend starting with another book of his first such as “Why Materialism is Baloney.” It contains philosophical backings that seem necessary to understanding his project in this book. If you are familiar with Bernardo’s work, this book is the ultimate synthesis and “capstone” of his previous work. “More than allegory” also contains extraordinary biographic details that I felt were lurking just below the surface of his other books when I was reading them.Bernardo says in the introduction that you can start with part III instead of reading the book start to finish. As someone who read the book from start to finish, I can’t imagine starting towards the end. Part III is so climatic that starting there and going back seems out of order. This isn’t to say that the first two parts of the book are inferior – the whole book is excellent – but part III is such a treat you’ll be glad you saved it for last.”More than Allegory” is an absolutely stunning, intellectually appealing, and emotionally satisfying defense of the meaning of religious myth in our secular age. I’m sure this description would ruffle the feathers of secular-minded people, but be assured that Bernardo is no dogmatist. On the contrary, his background in advanced computer science and solid philosophical base should satisfy anyone who is not a hardcore materialist or literal-minded fundamentalist (but i repeat myself). Fans of Carl Jung, Henry Corbin, James Hillman, and Tom Cheetham will find much to love here, and all of these characters make guest appearances. I’m particularly glad Bernardo referenced “All the World an Icon,” a book which certainly deserves more attention.”More than Allegory” is only a little over two hundred pages, but it packs such a punch you would think it was considerably longer. Every chapter is saturated with profound meaning. I suppose this is appropriate because the book is explicitly about profound meaning, which our naturalistic society has largely robbed us of. Whether we are aware of it or not (and Bernardo makes a strong case that we should become aware) our metaphysical presuppositions are spiritually bankrupt and toxic to the individual and society at large. Even the great religions of the world may seem largely impotent against the all-consuming existential void that threatens to consume the transcendent. Bernardo seeks to rescue the transcendent and the myths that guide us to it from the jaws of that void. He concedes that religious myths are not literally true, but rather true in a way that transcends literalism and even allegory (hence the title). Also in exhibit are the “via negativa” mystical traditions of the world which seek to go beyond myths. Ever true to his subject, a delightful parable of Bernardo’s invention is included to illustrate these these two approaches.This rousing defense of myths and mysticism constitutes the first two parts of the book. The third is Bernardo’s personal encounter with the enormous mystery at the heart of the matter. I won’t spoil this more than I have already. I will say that I have long day-dreamed about founding an organization that devotes its resources exclusively to exploring inner realms and bringing back knowledge. To my immense surprise and slight annoyance, it turns out this organization already exists. You’ll have to read the book to find out the rest.Bernardo,If I could be so presumptuous as to address you directly in an Amazon review and recommend something, I feel certain that reading Jane Robert’s work would be an immense benefit to you just as your work has been for me. Your conversations in Part III could have easily been lifted from the pages of the Seth Material. You just have to get past the channeling, New Agey associations, and airy fairy artwork on the covers…Either way, I would like to thank you for writing your books. I think and hope that one day they will be standard texts in education. I look forward to your next project!Lee

⭐My world view has been evolving quite dramatically over the last decade in a swirl of spirituality, science, psychology and theology. I’ve felt as if I was onto something big but the language to articulate my thoughts and experiences eluded me. Until now.Bernardo’s writings, and those of Jeffrey Kripal (author of the introduction), have rescued me from ignorance. The materialist mind-set has disturbed me for some years and explanations of idealism, for me, fell short. But More Than Allegory tackles idealism and belief in a mental universe in an accessible but erudite way. It’s ground-breaking stuff and best read with an open mind.Without necessarily saying so, this book weaves together the richness of the Western mystical tradition into a coherent explanation of what might just be happening in our ‘reality’.It’s beyond thought-provoking. It’s exciting. It’s essential.

⭐Bernado Kastrup writes so clearly; he’s on a mission to inform rather than a mission to show everyone what a dusty old philosopher he is and how high his ivory tower is(!) Do be prepared for some pretty mind-bending ideas in this book. Even though I was familiar with the concepts, Mr Kastrup’s clarity gives them such immediacy that they hit me with the shock of the new and I was transported back to my under-graduate days, hearing Descartes for the first time. You may need to lie down with a cold flannel on your head whilst it stops spinning. But actually, isn’t that fantastic? A real live active philosophy that can challenge and shake us up. All power to Bernardo Kastrup, this is the second book of his that I am reading – I can also recommend ‘Why Materialism is Baloney’.

⭐This book is sensational, from its beginning to its lovely poetic epilogue.Only Bernardo Kastrup can make monistic idealism seem perfectly clear and logical. In Parts 1 and 2 he berates deprived materialist myths, the “bottom-dwelling models” of our contemporary culture which lead to existential despair. He shows how certain religious myths are true – not literally or allegorically, but transcendently so; for they symbolize ideas emerging from the mind of God. In Part 3, he proposes another religious myth, a whole modern cosmogony of his own.Bernardo Kastrup is the Bishop Berkeley of the modern age. Read this book and bring new meaning into your life.

⭐Bernardo’s usual brilliant incisive mind at work again! Clear and understandable thoroughly enjoy Bernardo’s constructs I don’t agree with all his conclusions….yet….but food for meditation!

⭐I have only just been introduced to Idealism – and this book has been the perfect way to truly open my mind to the possibilities. A beautiful book about mind, reality and existence. It has changed my life, and it will probably change yours.

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