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#5B VITALISM

I see life as holistically endowed with something special: spirit, soul, life force (Qi in China, Prana in India.) Most religions involve belief in spiritual beings: living things with souls, disembodied spirits, ghosts, angels, that natural objects are conscious (animism), etc. Traditionally the self-awareness called consciousness (home of conscience) is thought to reside in souls. (Note: While disdaining the above, some link life with a creative/ organizing principle. They see it as emerging from the collective behavior of a complex system, and as something more than the sum of its parts.)

More Information About This Worldview Theme

a diamond WV Theme...

...individual <---> knowledge

the theme is paired with: #5A   Scientific Materialism  to make Choice #9    in the Choices We Make cards 

this theme as presented in older version of theme structure:  version 1.0  version 2.0    version 3.0         is this theme new to version 4?--NO

click to look at the Project Worldview Cultural Literacy Encyclopedia Related Words, Beliefs, Background articles for the above choice 

 Project Worldview authored discussion, Worldview Watch related issues, songs, etc.  

Worldview Watch #75:    Bashar of Essassani and Bashar al-Assad: UFO Religious Celebrity and War Criminal 

Discussion from The Worldview Literacy Book Songs

Wikipedia articles related to this theme:

spirit  Vitalism soul
  Spirituality spiritual energy spiritual or ethereal beings
Odic Force Qi (or Ch'i)  Emergentism
 

 worldview internal inconsistency related: Strongly valuing this theme and any of the themes in the list below is a contradiction:

#1B Skeptic   #6A Orderly & Explicable #6B   Scientific Method #13  In Human/Computer Hands:  Dancing With Systems   
#201A Evidence-Based      
   

More to Explore --Worldview Theme #5B: Vitalism

The Vital Force: An Arcane Idea?, by C. Wansbrough
What Does It Mean to Be Alive?  (chapter one from book)
Manifesto of Scientists Who Accept the Paranormal  (product of Feb 2014 conference at Univ. of Arizona, Tucson)
The Philosophy of Biology (from online encyclopedia -- why vitalism has been rejected by mainstream biologists) 
Nature / Animism (includes links)
A Wisdom Archive on Material Force (Eastern / New Age perspective)
What is Qi?  (or old spelling Ch'i; a vital life force, used in Chinese Medicine)
Wellness & Alternative Medicine (from online encyclopedia)
Romanticism, Vitalism, and the Life Sciences
The Global Consciousness Project --Meaningful Correlations in Random Data (from noosphere.princeton.edu)
Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith, by George Vaillant (more on this 2008 book)
Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas (more on this 2006 book that sketches "an emerging worldview that returns soul to the cosmos")
Thinking With Your Soul, by Richard Wolman (about spiritual intelligence, preview this 2001 book at Google Books)
Healing Through Applying Universal Life Force Energy (Reiki), by David Herron
Vitalism / Reductionism Debate in the Life Sciences, and the concept of Emergence
"The Emerging New Worldview," by Paul Helfrich (paper re: conscious creation and "consciousness is cool")
Consciousness in the Cosmos (essays on the Stoa del Sol website by Beatrix Murrell)
"Information is the Difference Between Life and Matter," by Gert Korthof (explains ideas of Hubert Yockey)  
"Medical Ethics: Signs of Vitalism"  (report from The Economist August 28 2021) 
"Soul Traders: Demand for Exorcists in France is Soaring" (article from The Economist July 22 2017)
"In the Theatre of the Sacred" by Jonathan Katz ("vodou pilgrims summon timeless spirits" July 2017 article from  Smithsonian)
"Seeking Proof in Near Death Claims" (Oct 25 2010 Wall Street Journal story)
Do Miracles Happen Today? by James Arlandson (2007 article)
Is There a God? by Marilyn Adamson (presents six reasons to believe in God)
The Holy Spirit, by Michael Welker (1989 article by the editor of the 2004 book  The Work of the Spirit)
Angels (from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
Religion and Healing in America, ed. L. Barnes & S. Sered (read excerpts of this 2005 book at Google Books)
Therapeutic Touch -- History and Philosophy
Therapeutic Touch
United Communities of Spirit (a Global Interfaith Effort)
Life Force Centre for Natural Well Being (British organization established in 1990)
Spirituality and Health Magazine
GhostVillage.com ("the web's most paranormal destination")
Ghost Research Society (clearing house for reports of ghosts, hauntings, etc)

The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal Is Bringing Science and Spirit Together, by Charles Tart

Neither Brain Nor Ghost by W. Teed Rockwell (review  by philosopher Liz Swan of this 2005 book)
Life, Vitalism, Misusing the Name of the Lord, etc. by Christopher Kelty (article and commentary)
What is Nutritional Medicine? by B. Armstrong (article links nutrition with vitalistic life force) 
Principles and the Practice of Homeopathy, by David Owen (comprehensive textbook)
quotes related to spirituality 

back to Theme Choices version 5.0 structure 

"As you shop in "The Reality Marketplace" avoid spending your "reality cash" too early,  before you have seen everything. " 
from Coming of Age in the Global Village,  by Stephen P. Cook,  with Donella H. Meadows.

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