“SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION & SCIENCE”


Instructor:
Harold Rosen


Registration:
Lexi Richards (welcomeltlc@telus.net) or 604-820-0220

Schedule:

6 Thursday afternoons – 12:30 to 2:30pm – September 15 to October 20, 2016

Location:

Lifetime Learning Centre, 32444 – 7th Avenue, Mission, BC V2V 2B5

Cost:

about $50

Course Description:

How have humanity’s higher capacities developed during our time on earth? Why has human evolution been conceived with such stunning variety across the ages? Three major traditions or disciplinary fields have offered helpful and intriguing approaches to these questions – Science, Spiritual Wisdom, and Religion. The contents of these traditions have been viewed as parallel, as convergent, and as divergent. Collectively they address questions of cosmology, the nature of life, growth and development, as well as the role of human capacities and purposes in cultural evolution. Today, there are signs that these three traditions are dovetailing, though strident voices at the extreme ends of discourse declare otherwise. In this history-of-ideas and interdisciplinary course, Science will be interpreted as ever more refined methods of observation, deduction and control. Spiritual Wisdom will be viewed as esoteric or hidden insights and techniques for evolutionary advancement. And Religion will be interpreted as revelatory teachings and practices intended to transform the individual and society into ever higher forms.

Session 1 – Introduction to the 3 Traditions on Human Evolution: Science, Spiritual Wisdom & Religion.
Surveying the timelines of these three truth-seeking traditions, including some key developments, concepts, and contributors in each of these fields. It discusses major paradigms, sub-disciplines, movements, and innovators – all with an eye for parallel and converging themes, without ignoring significant differences.

Session 2 – Science Before the European Renaissance: From Cosmic Wonder to Humanistic Vision & the Scientific Revolution.
An historical and multicultural perspective on early scientific investigation, and exploring such topics as alchemy phasing into chemistry, astrology phasing into astronomy, the influence of Pythagoreanism, along with some Greco-Roman, Asian, and Middle Eastern contributions.

Session 3 – Modern Science & Human Development: Basic Concepts of Natural & Social Maturation.
A brief look at the Scientific Revolution and European Enlightenment, but most attention to Darwinian and Neo-Darwinian concepts of evolution, some theoretical ideas of cosmic and social evolution, touching on turning-points in the Industrial and Information Revolutions.

Session 4 – Spiritual Wisdom Across the Ages: From Hermetic Mysteries & Medieval Alchemy to Renaissance Mysticism & New Age Thought.
How the early Hermetic Tradition was foundational for esoteric and spiritual movements which followed – including spiritual alchemy, Medieval and Renaissance mysticism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, Romantic Nature Philosophy, Theosophy, and New Age Thought.

Session 5 – Religions of the East & West on Human Evolution: Some Asian, Biblical, Quranic & Baha’i Views of Nature & Human Transformation.
Comparative religious teachings on cosmology, the natural world, and the significance of human potential. The ways in which the purer, more original religious sources catalyzed the physical and social sciences will be accented.

Session 6 – Retrospect & Prospect on the Three Traditions: Are There Ways of Integrating Science, Spirituality, & Religion?
A brief review of the previous sessions, then some key notions of synthetic thinkers such as Teilhard de Chardin, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ervin Laszlo, and Ken Wilber will be introduced and explored. This will open the way for reasonable speculation on the future of the Three Traditions.