Religion 101 Part 2

Supernormal

the immediate predecessor of the paranormal - the connotations that psychical capacities are linked to evolutionary processes and signal future powers of the species

Telepathy

at a distance, suffering/deep emotion to love ones

relic

remains of human bodies considered to be holy and used ritually as containing a power akin to electricity or contagion

tradition

the result of passing on or transmitting anything—for instance a religious system—from one generation to another

human as two

the basic idea, known throughout the history of religions, that there are two different modes of being human: the conscious social self, and a complexly conscious field that is experienced as other or more than the social ego

sect

a community that has become disillusioned with the public church and has broken away from it in order to reconstruct religious life around some key doctrinal or ritual point

simulation hypothesis

the idea that we are living in a fake or artificial world, likely generated by a super‐computer of some advanced sort

saint

a religious prodigy considered to be especially representative of the values and worldview of a particular religious community

psychokinesis

mental influence over the physical movement of bodies or their appearance, as in levitation, materialization, or the movement of objects without any physical cause

anti-structure

We might guess that the paranormal as anti‐structure would spike again today, as the crises change but continue in other forms, specifically around climate, race, gender, sexuality, and democracy itself.

super-psi hypothesis

This is the idea that some extraordinary or exceptional paranormal ability is required to explain the uncanny accuracy and detail of something like past life memories, which indeed are often quite striking and even include things like biological birthmarks and birth defects suggestive of the manner of death of the previous subject

vitalism

a term that refers to any philosophical position that posits some life force or living energy that is not finally reducible to matter and its mechanisms.

world religion

a religious tradition that has expanded beyond its original cultural context for normative reasons in order to reach a global audience

trickster

a mythical figure who, through various comedic, deceitful, and offensive behaviors upsets the established order in order to mock, renew, or reform the world

transcendence

the capacity of human beings to enter altered states of consciousness, often in order to facilitate contact with deities and the dead