We keep referring to the term paradigm in Spirituality .. yet I sometimes wonder if we really know what the term actually means?

So here's an opportunity to share what we think we know.

Perhaps we may ALL learn something new.

Hi Lisa,
I find more of a spirtual connection from anything other than religion.
Just seeing the sun rise or set over the ocean or viewing
the stars, planets, galaxys & nebulas through a telescope.
Being close to a mountain & viewing the majesty of
the sheer size & beautiful ice & snow covered peaks.
Science can even be a spiritual connection for me.
Reading about the wonders of nature & seeing documentaries.
Life is about whatever inspires you to think beyond the day to day problems.

To this  extent I don't see a contradiction in Nail's thinking
if he thinks as I do?

it doesn't, d*cko! *you* are not *your body*... get it? you live in Asia, don't you. So get real and check out the most ancient civilisation right in your own country and in India, China,and the rest.  There's a lot more to it than Labor and Liberal, you blokes.
Chakra, Judaism, Hindi, Islam...*you* are *not* your *body*. Meditate on it...change your diet....listen to the Hari Krishna...etc...stop being so bloody English.

Some interesting posts in here this morning lol

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Feb 10^th, 2011 at 5:19pm:


If you want a postmodernist spin on it, they are all equal and none are more correct. Rorty, for example, sees it all as great narratives but as history has shown the great narratives seem to come and go. Science, accordingly, is in no privileged position. It has had its own narratives come and go and there's no reason to believe that won't continue to happen.

Of course, there are scientists who would deny that and assert that we are making steady progress toward THE  TRUTH.

W Edwards Deming used to write of a paradigm shift.  For many years people were running companies with Quality Control inspectors with the belief that they could fix problems with quality. Deming came up with a paradigm shift and explained that quality can not be inspected in. You have to look at improving the process instead. Instead of the old view that quality costs money, he came up with the counter paradigm that quality saved money.

It could mean a whole new way of looking at something. For example, instead of gravity being regarded as a property of masses attracting each other , it is instead seen as a result of masses causing distortion of space time so that they continue to move in a straight line along the now distorted space-time.  Different paradigms.

To be able to see different paradigms, I think it's essential to look at the different concepts.
It's pretty hard to weigh the advantages or disadvantages of different concepts when only looking at one.

In regards to religion, I don't think that many people even bother to consider that there may be alternative, more correct concepts out there; they know what they know, and what they know is right and correct. Therefore, they think themselves as being spiritual..or "the spiritual".

As was put forward in a different thread, a link to Pt.1 of "Zeitgeist the movie", displays a very different concept to the origins of mainstream religion and the initial purpose than most mild Christians would even consider.
So, if it is not considered, then there is only one paradigm and the word "paradigm" itself becomes irrelevant and non-existent in this instance.

I would definitely like to discuss this concept, or paradigm-shift in regards to religion, but since it cannot be discussed objectively with the religious, there is little use of even mentioning the existence of a different paradigm.

IMO, spirituality concerns revelations, and Christianity is a false revelation. In other words, it's a lie. They bore false witness.

Axle wrote on Feb 12^th, 2011 at 12:13am:


It depends on your personal definition of "spiritual" I suppose.
I align it very closely with the word "revelation", which to me means "revealing something".
I'm sure that Einstein, Edison, Pythagoras, Newton, etc.. would have felt very spiritual with their personal revelations which will resonate throughout history.

IMO, Christianity is anti-spiritual in that it not only didn't it reveal any truths, it covered them and hindered progress.

Personally, I don't believe everything put forward in "Zeitgeist the movie", but Pt.1 is pretty close to the mark IMO.

You can look at the "movie" as you would "When Harry met Sally" and glean what revelations may seem right. There's no objective to make it a new religion as some have, it's just about questioning some long standing paradigms IMO.

"All the world is a stage". Shakespeare told his story, as did, has and will so many others. It's up to you to decifer what is real and what is not.i