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Sam Keen

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“Myth is the system of basic metaphors, images, and stories that informs the perceptions, memories, and aspirations of a people; provides the rationale for its institutions, rituals and power structure; and gives a map of the purpose and stages of life.”

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Book:The passionate life: stages of loving
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“Paranoia reduces anxiety and guilt by transferring to the other all the characteristics one does not want to recognize in oneself. It is maintained by selective perception and recall. We only see and acknowledge those negative aspects of the enemy that support the stereotype we have already created.”

WantDoeEnemySupportAtheismAnxietyPerceptionNegativeAspectGuiltOneselfPositive AtheismAcknowledgeCharacteristicsRecallsStereotypeParanoiaSelective
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“Consensual paranoia - the pathology of the normal person who is a member of a war-justifying society - forms the template from which all the images of the enemy are created. By studying the logic of paranoia, we can see why certain archetypes of the enemy must necessarily recur, no matter what the historical circumstances.”

PersonsWarMatterFormCertainEnemyStudyAtheismCircumstancesMembersNormalLogicNo Matter WhatHistoricalPositive AtheismParanoiaArchetypePathology
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“As a mode of perception that often becomes a style of life, paranoia weaves around the vulnerable self or group an air-tight metaphysic and world view. Paranoia is an antireligious mysticism based on the feeling or perception that the world in general, and others in particular, are against me or us. Reality is perceived as hostile. By contrast, the religious mystic experiences the ground of being as basically friendly to the deepest needs of the self. That which is unknown, strange, or beyond our comprehension is with and for rather than against us.”

WorldNeedsSelfFeelingsRealityReligiousViewsGroupsAirStyleParticularStrangePerceptionVulnerableFriendlyMysticismContrastHostileComprehensionMysticParanoiaWorld View
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“Aristotle said that philosophy begins in wonder. I believe it also ends in wonder. The ultimate way in which we relate to the world as something sacred is by renewing our sense of wonder. That's why I'm so opposed to the kind of miracle-mongering we find in both new-age and old-age religion. We're attracted to pseudomiracles only because we've ceased to wonder at the world, at how amazing it is.”

WorldWayBelieveKindSaidEndsPhilosophyAgeI BelieveWonderUltimateMiracleSacredOld AgeRelateNew AgeSense Of Wonder
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“To a large extent, the aged in our society are ghettoized. Old people are seen as useless, bypassed by history, old-fashioned, in the way. So, not surprisingly, when we reach the official mark of old age, we're supposed to go gently into that good night, to get off center stage and hand over the spotlight. Old age is also surrounded by shame - the myth of impotence and inability.”

PeopleWayHandsAgeNightStageMarkShameMythOld AgeUselessOfficialsOur SocietyOld FashionedOld PeopleInabilitySpotlightGood NightImpotenceCenter Stage
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“The major impediment to experiencing the sacred depths of ordinary moments is the speed and distraction of contemporary life that moves to the imperatives of the global economic order.In addition, we increasingly live in a virtual world in which our reality is filtered through media and information technology.”

WorldMomentsRealityMovingOrderTechnologyEconomicMediaInformationMajorsOrdinarySacredDepthSpeedContemporaryDistractionImperativesInformation TechnologyImpedimentsEconomic OrderVirtual WorldContemporary LifeOrdinary Moments
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“Without reverence we [people] will gradually descend into ecocide. In the degree that the imperatives of the market - the temple of the Mall - govern our lives, we are in escalating danger of destroying the commonwealth of all sentient beings - bugs and bees and buntings - on which we depend for a luxurious life on planet earth.”

PeopleEarthOur LivesDangerPlanetsDependsDegreesTemplesDestroyingReverenceBeesBugsImperativesPlanet EarthMallsCommonwealthSentient BeingsLuxuriousEscalatingBunting
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“On the pilgrim's path each man must become Moses, going on a vision quest to some mountaintop and returning with the ten or twenty commandments that he holds sacred. So long as we obey or break the rules that have been set up for us by the Giants - Parents and other Authorities - we remain good or bad children. Growing into the fullness of our humanity means that we become co-authors of the rules by which we will agree to have our lives judged.”

MenMeanChildrenLongHas BeensHumanityParentVisionBreakPathOur LivesGrowingTenAuthorityTwentiesAgreeSacredGiantsJudgedQuestsCommandmentsFullnessMosesPilgrimGrowing Children
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“The spiritual journey is one that we must take "alone together," in the same way that a good marriage involves a dance between solitude and communion. The life of the spirit entails a continuous alternation between retreating into oneself and going out into the world: it's an inward-outward journey. There is a solitary part to it, but that solitude helps us to develop richer and more in-depth relationships with our friends, our children, our community, and the political world.”

WorldWayChildrenHelpingTogetherSpiritualPoliticalSpiritCommunityJourneySolitudeOur ChildrenDepthOneselfSolitaryInwardGoing OutCommunionOur CommunitySpiritual JourneyGood Marriage
Author:Sam Keen
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“In a way, human beings have never been part of the natural order; we're not biological in the normal sense. Normal biological animals stop eating when they're not hungry and stop breeding when there is no sense in breeding. By contrast, human beings are what I think of as "biomythic" animals: we're controlled largely by the stories we tell. When we get the story wrong, we get out of harmony with the rest of the natural order. For a long time, our unnatural beahvior didn't threaten the natural world, but now it does.”

ThinkingWorldWayHumansLongDoeStoriesOrderNaturalHuman BeingsAnimalNormalEatingLong TimeHarmonyHungryControlledContrastNatural WorldUnnaturalBreedingNatural Order
Author:Sam Keen
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